The Ripple Effect: Season 2
by Viperhat
Summary: Time has passed since Gray was abandoned by Fairy Tail. During his time he had grown stronger, he had become faster, he was more durable. However, a new enemy arrives with strength unfathomable and uncomprehending. With more trials that begin to stand in his way, Can Gray make it through in a world that doesn't care for him anymore? (Arcs: GMG, Tartarus)
1. Empty: Part 1

It has been a long time coming guys, like a really long time coming…

Okay I have two things I must point out before this story starts. Due to revelations in Fairy tail regarding Devil Slayers, dragons as well as other thing. Certain aspects may seem like I have pulled it from my ass. For those familiar with his story you'll know that this story's previous season was done during 2015 and so certain things from the canon from then on are omitted for the sake of keeping this story to its roots.

2\. I do not know if you guys want the chapter length to remain the usual 2,000 to 3,000 words or TOI's 5,000 to 6,000. The former will mean I can pump out more chapters in less time, but with a little less detail and pacing may be a tad wobbly every now and then. The latter will take forever to do, but I can squeeze in all of the juicy details and keep the pacing going on.

I'll be keeping this chapter 2,000 only to give you the introduction and so you can get back into the story's universe again. For new readers I must urge you to read the first season of this series 'The Ripple Effect' to fully understand where we are in this story.

Okay I have kept you here long enough. :D

LET'S READ!

::-()-::

'Recap'

" **He didn't attack you inside the dome did he?" She asked, but it sounded more like a statement.**

" **He is a man who Is angry at those who were supposed to be his his family. He isn't a thug who likes the pain of others for no reason..." She glared at Lucy…**

 _ **/\/\/\/\/\/\**_

" **Oohh Graaaayyy..." She sing songed. Gray looked at her and smiled.**

" **Flare?" He replied.**

" **I want to have some fun! Let's go on a job!"**

" **I'm not sure, why do you need me?"**

 **She looked embarrassed…**

" **I don't know how this works, can you help me out here?"**

 _ **/\/\/\/\/\/\**_

" **Erza?" he asked in concern. What did she find?**

" **Master, y-you need to see this..." She stuttered brokenly before turning the lacrima to his children on what seemed to be a snowy mountain top with who seemed to b-.**

" **No..." he whispered to himself.**

 **The figure looked like Gray…**

 _ **/\/\/\/\/\/\**_

" **I have just received a transmission from Erza, she has made a big discovery." This had everyone's attention. "Wendy and some others were on their way to Brago for what Mirajane said was 'a little historical tour'. I sent Erza to follow them out of suspicion as Brago doesn't have a tour guide system anywhere nearby. She followed them up a mountain and she spotted Wendy and co' making contact with Gray."**

 **At this, Natsu let out a shout of anger and confusion…**

" **WHAT?! WHY WOULD THEY GO AFTER HIM ON THEIR OWN?! HE WON'T GO EASY ON THEM! WE NEED TO MOVE NOW!" Before Makarov could stop him, Natsu has rushed out from the door and had begun his trek to Brago.**

 _ **/\/\/\/\/\/\**_

" **Tenroujima is fairy tail's holy ground. It is said that the first guild master is buried their and that the tree gives the guild something or another, i'm not really sure on the details." His expression was cold, flare could understand that feeling alright. She herself had an angry expression plastered on her face at the mention of Fairy tail.**

 **Gray then gave her some more news.**

" **if I am correct, in a few weeks the S-Class trials will begin too..." He said. Pondering on the possible connection. "Maybe the next set of trials will take place on Tenrou. It's not very easy to tell but it doesn't matter. We know that Grimore Heart are going to be there in two or three weeks so that means we will leave for the island in a week."**

 _ **/\/\/\/\/\/\**_

" _ **You know that you wouldn't be able to take him on! The only one who would've stood a chance would've been Mirajane! Not you or any of the others with you!"**_

 _ **/\/\/\/\/\/\**_

" **Don't worry Meredy." Flare stopped. "There is no way that Fullbuster could've survived Zancrows most powerful attack, no one ever has." She listened in on the voice and paled when 'No way', 'Fullbuster' and 'survived' were strung together in the same sentence.**

" _ **No..." She blinked tears away, she wouldn't believe these damn lies that bitch was spouting.**_

 _ **/\/\/\/\/\/\**_

 **He was honestly surprised that he didn't care much the first time…**

" **You know I am still pissed at you, as well as others right?"**

 **Erza just shook her head on his chest…**

" **I know! But please, I was wrong! I was wrong to think of you as guilty! I was scared for my family, but I got you thrown out because of that fear!" She calmed herself down before continuing on.**

" **Please, you were one of the only reasons my life is worth something, I don't want to lose you again over a stupid mistake we made… Forgive me..."**

 _ **/\/\/\/\/\/\**_

" **Alright! I can't wait to kick this guys ass!"**

 **Team Natsu had finally made it to the downed airship. The ship landed before them and they all took the chance to rush up into the ship. Natsu got up to the top and knocked a massive hole in the wall, revealing the master of Grimore heart.**

 _ **Natsu grit his teeth in anger. "So you were the one who hurt Gramps? Doesn't matter, you hurt our friends. Now i'm going to beat you to a pulp!" He shouted at Hades.**_

 _ **/\/\/\/\/\/\**_

 **Gray laid still for a moment to regain his senses and his energy.**

 **He opened his eyes to see the hair mage looking down on him with a frightened expression plastered on her face.**

" **That. Was. Shitty..."**

 **Before Flare could respond, a massive shadow loomed over her and Gray. Looking up her eyes landed on a creature she thought was extinct…**

 _ **A Dragon…**_

::-()-::

"Damn brat..." Makarov grumbled, staring off into the woods where his ex-guild member had rushed off into.

He sighed after a while, sitting and letting his thoughts do battle with his thinking had seemed to have helped him calm down during the hectic few hours that had transpired. He found himself almost wanting to go after Gray and apologise to him properly, and if it were not for recent events and the way his guild had treated the poor boy as of late he would have happily done so.

A first, he found himself angry, angry that a non-member had trespassed onto the holy ground of his beloved guild. No matter who it was and how loved or nice he was during his time as a member, The fact still stood that Gray was no longer a member of Fairy Tail. But he knowingly came to the island on the day of the S-Class trials for a job he had taken.

But he couldn't stay angry, he also had come to find out that some of his precious children would have been in much worse shape, possibly even killed, if he hadn't turned up, even that Raven Tail girl of his seemed to save Evergreen and Elfman from an enemy mage from their perspective.

Hell, if that wasn't enough to stave off his previous righteous storm then Laxus showing up and saving Gray and team Natsu definitely had enlightened him.

For the first time in a long time, he was left utterly confused and neutral…

On one hand, he wanted to give Gray and Laxus a massive hug for their efforts on the island, but then he also wanted to scold them big time…

He just didn't know… But one thing was for sure, Gray had every right to leave him and the rest of his children here to their fates, but he didn't. He had saved them and even had been saved by them. Things were certainly strained between the guild and Gray but he put it aside for the greater good.

Gray still had a good heart and head on him, even after his banishment…

' _Maybe I have misjudged the poor boy._ ' He thought solemnly. Tearing his gaze away from the woods he looked on and over his guild members.

' _I was unable to keep my family safe, therefore Gray had to step in and help them. From now on, I will have to step up my game._ He smiled wanly. ' _Can't be shown up by an old brat of mine and my grandson just yet… These old bones still have a fire in them._ '

However, before he could call the guild members to him. The most terrifying booming roar blasted through the air, freezing those who heard it solid. The deep ominous and insane cry sent chills through the old man's spine as he felt the sheer force of magic rolling through the sound in tidal waves…

Luckily, it only lasted for a few seconds before echoing off into non-existence, as if it had never occurred in the first place. But it had left its mark, as he could see Lisanna, Levy and Natsu look up in slight fear as they saw the biggest moving shadow move towards them, the shadow felt blacker than the void itself and it briefly loomed over Makarov himself, and it felt suffocating to just be under.

Then he looked up and all of his doubts and worries over his entire life-time had all come up in a crushing front. His biggest fears rose in spades and a sense of hopelessness filled him more than had ever done so before…

For when he looked up, his aged eyes were glued towards the massive frame of a titanic, black, blue and grey dragon…

::-()-::

That pain was something out of this world…

No one should ever need to be filled with such an overbearing hopeless agony that they end up destroying their throat and brain at once. To have their entire body flare up in a way that causes spasms so violent you could break a tree trunk with the wild swings and twitches…

But as Gray watched the threatening figure gaze down on the land with those blank expressionless white eyes he knew that that such a sensation existed, and that dragon was the very being that encapsulated it.

It stood up like a sore thumb as it flew over the bright and lively island. It seemed to exist for that reason. To stand against anything that was alive.

"It's… a dragon…?" He winced…

"H-how?" He heard Flare beside him, trying to ease him up as if he would fall apart any second. "Dragons don't exist any more… They can't exist any more!"

"Then explain that to me..." Gray hissed through clenched teeth. Pointing at the behemoth in question.

Flare didn't respond, she only watched on in horror as it stopped and glared at a piece of land hatfully. Suddenly, through mere seconds that felt like years, the dragon heaved in a massive breath, expanding its gut, before roaring once more, causing Gray to yell out again and clutch his head painfully as the dragon fired a devastatingly big ball of pure magic towards the piece of land it had been staring at…

The magical bolt was impeccably fast, faster than anything Flare had ever seen before, the sheer magical force could be felt in waves from the mile or so the were standing from and as the ball finally made contact with ground…

And completely decimated it…

"What…. No..." Absolute, unforgiving coldness sank into her stomach as she saw the massive span of land disappear within a matter of seconds.

' _That power… it's unbelievable!'_ Flare quickly bolted upright, forcing herself to calm down, she began to hoist her friend up and onto his feet, stumbling a little at his weight fighting her befor ehe managed to gain control over his body again.

"Thanks..." Gray smiled thinly, still in pain. "But we need to get out of here befor-"

His sentence was cut off as he saw the dragon fire another bolt of magic at the big boat Fairy tail came in, his head felt like it had been filled with magma once again, but he was getting used to the pain by now, grunting loudly he cursed as the boat seemingly evaporated before his eyes.

And he could see a small commotion going down near the sight, his eyes widened as he saw the familiar sight of all of his ex-friends magic blasting into the mammoth of a creatures body, sending the beast back by maybe a few inches, shrugging off the entire attack with ease before the dragon slayer sent their own attacks its way, amazingly sending the creature into the side of the cliff of the island.

But the dragon clearly was untouched by the ferocious attacks. And even though he still disliked the guild he knew his morals would ultimately force him to try and help them. He had friends down there too, he couldn't just sit back and watch this happen to them…

"Flare… Get to the boat, get out of here..." He ordered. Pointing to the direction of their boat. But Flare wasn't moving.

"What are you going to do?" She asked quietly…

"You know I won't leave them to this fate. Look at that dragon. Do you think they can handle it without another slayer, I may be able to help them." He responded quickly, the tension palpable as he continued. "Now get going!"

"No! Not without you Gray!" Flare cried, arguing till the end…

"Flare..." He glared straight into her soul, letting her know just how serious he was. "I won't drag you into this, you will do what I say, take the prisoners we have, bring them to the authorities and get the money, move out of that damn guild and get that cabin on the river. I will be fine and you'll be fine too! Now get a fucking move on before I make you myself!"

His roar boomed, freezing the Hair Mage stiff as she watched the unwavering form of her 'saviour'. Nothing she could do would make him change his mind. He was a man of moral after-all. And even though the Fairies had hurt him and made him hate so much he still defended them and would fight with them for them…

A tear slipped down her cheek, as he looked down, his brow creasing down.

"I'm sorry for making you cry… I didn't mean to sound so aggressive to you." He replied softly, as he watched the dragon get back up and attack the island and guild once more. "But I won't leave them like they did me, I am better than them in that regard and I won't stoop to their level. You won't be without me…."

He paused, taking a breath before giving her a small hug.

"I promise..."

And that was it for her… All it took to convince her of his fate was a hug and his word...

She couldn't say no…. When Gray made a promise he kept it, he never went back on them. She knew this and understood his dedication to her and his life more fully than ever before.

But she still didn't want to let go… But she did…

She didn't want to comply with his direct orders… But she did…

And she didn't want to begin running to the boat, watching his form shrink into non-existence in the background as she rowed away on the only hope for anyone to escape had…

But she did…

::-()-::

"How is it still able to move after that!?" Laxus roared, staring at the huge monster, unsure of how or why it could survive such an intense barrage of offensive magic at once. A shrill scream startled himself and the others as they saw Mirajane point at the dragon, inhaling again.

"Oh no..." Cana backed away slowly… a sense of terror filling her to the brim as the dragon glared at them all before firing.

Only it missed, going straight into the sky.

"RUN YOU DAMN BRATS!" Makarov's booming voice thundered through the island, stilling everything that could move even further besides the guild members.

The master had let loose his impressive magic, transforming his tiny body into his titan form similar to the deadly opponent before him, locking the beasts head in his arms he forced the startled beast upward just as it fired, unleashing its impressive world ending roar into the sky, physically piercing the clouds as it reached them.

Makarov glared at the monster with pure unadulterated rage, only receiving one back he knew this dragon was not going to stop until everything was broken, disassembled and under its intense grip. He couldn't allow this monster to take his family away from the world, but it was also a fact that he was barely holding his lock on the beast as is…

All he could simply do was hold the dragon off until his children were safe…

But they weren't moving, at least Natsu wasn't…

"LOOK AT ME YOU FOOL, I CAN'T HOLD THE DAMN THING FOREVER, GET MOVING!" He yelled, desperation starting to fill him as the rowdy Dragon Slayer continued to scream at him to come with them. But before he had to intervene again, Laxus had swooped him up in his arm before carrying Natsu off to safety.

' _Thank you Laxus_ ' Makarov smiled, before turning his head back to the dragon and with as much strength as he could muster, he eventually managed to slam the dragon into the cliff face again. His little victory was not felt for long, his face frowned as the dragon began to get back up.

"YOU STAY ON THE GROUND!" He bellowed, taking a strained leap at the dragon and trying to pin it down more.

But as soon as he was close enough he was immediately outclassed by the dragon as it easily lifted itself off of the ground and without any effort, flung him into the cliff side instead. The crushing force of the beasts sharp claws on his chest and forehead was painfully mobilizing… The fear he had for the beast, the muscles in his body giving out and his will to fight completely gone. He just laid there and stared into the dragons soulless eyes, smiling in triumph, despite losing this fight and soon to be his life by extension, he knew his children were safe, away from the dragons wrath…

That was when he saw it…

Ice…

Fire…

At the same time…

' _What is this?_ ' Confusion ensnared his mind, but it didn't last long, for a second later he could see one of the dragons arms being scaled by a blazing tidal wave of fire, angry red hot flames lashing out at the dragons thick scales. He could hear Natsu's shrill scream as he got closer and closer to the dragons face.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING BOY!?" He thundered, fear making its way up his body once again for the brat who wouldn't listen…

"What are you doing yourself you old bastard!" He heard from the right, the same voice that had been the forefront of the conversation of the guild… He looked over to the left and watched as a thick layer of purple ice quickly made its way over the dragons arm, seemingly freezing the appendage solid… On top and in front, he saw the shirtless boy with black marks covering half of his body, icy scythes slashing away at whatever weak tissue they could find.

"NATSU! GRAY!"

"We will deal with the bastard later Gramps, now the guild will beat this jackass dragon!" Natsu roared, pointing behind him briefly before running up to the head again.

Looking behind the dragon slayer, he could see what he meant…

' _No..._ '

"We found some help Jii-Chan!"

"This bastard is done for!"

"You thought we'd actually leave you old coot? Not on my watch!"

They were all coming back…

Charging in on the enemy as if it were their last stand, Cana, Bixslow, Laxus, Wendy, all of them were running towards the dragon with a renewed vigour that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Inwardly, the guild master smiled. His brats were never going to listen, he found himself confused once again, stuck between telling the bunch he loved them or attempting to bat them away with a free hand (if he could manage).

Meanwhile, Gray and Natsu had finally made it to the top of the dragons head…

"Ice Devil: Rage!" The Devil let forth an intimidating scream, his deep tone piercing and his magical blizzard slamming into the head of the dragon with the force of a thousand wrecking balls. Forcing the dragons head into Natsu's ferocious attack.

"Fire Dragon: Roar!" An equally loud and devastating roar thundered through the air, the instantaneous jet of fire barrelling into the other side and forcing the dragon to roll away with the movement…

"Now everyone!" Natsu jumped off of the dragons shoulder and was caught by Happy, the blue cat praising the Dragon Slayer to high heavens as Gray used the dragons seemingly big reaction to the attacks by firing his signature Ice Lances into the claw on Makarov's head.

And as soon as the lances hit did the rest of the Members attack too, literally putting as much force and power into there best and most hard hitting moves as physically possible.

And the sheer amount of magic Makarovs felt as each attack hit the dragon was by far some of the strongest he could ever think of. His watched, stumped and amazed as the dragon was actually forced back by the force.

Enough force to move it off of him…

But he couldn't help, to his shame, he was completely battered and broken beyond belief, slowly, he shifted back into his tiny frame and waited for the inevitable splash as he hit the water below.

Which was shocking for him when it never happened, looking up he saw Elfman, hanging on the edge, arm stretched out as far as possible as he held on to his tiny wrist. A look of concentration and determination on his face.

"Don't worry gramps! It would be unmanly to leave you here!" He grinned, for once making the old man smile. Despite his recent misgivings, Elfman Strauss was a good man at heart.

And a few seconds of fighting later and the entire group of Fairy Tail Mages and Gray were on the ledge of Tenrou, watching as the beast was apparently struggling to even move.

Gray was the first to speak… though his words weren't words of victory or triumph.

"It isn't even slightly hurt..." He stated, on the verge of stuttering as he watched it rise. "Even after all of that, it was just playing with us..."

"How would YOU know assflake?!" Natsu sneered, his pupils shrinking angrily as he looked at his old friend. "Unlike you, we believe that we can take this bastard down!"

"Idiot." Was the reply he got. "Look at it, it has got up with no problem what so ever. Hades would have went down right away if he was hit with such a barrage. This thing is a monster..."

However, Natsu was past caring, willing to put everything aside to prove the one he hated wrong, he bolted for the dragon, barely avoiding Gildarts' arm and making a mad dash towards the beast. Despite hearing the shouts of Gildarts and Erza he went to jump for the kill…

"He won't make it..."

Turning to look at who spoke, Gray found himself looking at Gildarts. The man was watching in terror and anger. He briefly looked at his arm and then his leg before gazing at the dragon with fear.

The very sight actually scared Gray and chilled him to the bone…

"How? I said it because I thought I and the others couldn't do it. But you?" Gray watched Gildarts shift.

"That is no normal dragon..." He began, staring at Natsu…

"FIRE-"

"Its the one who took my arm..."

"DRAGON-"

The fact being shared truly had its effect, freezing the Devil Slayer solid as he looked at Gildarts with an expression that couldn't even be described with words such as fear, terror, shock…

"What is it?"

"ROAR!"

Gildarts took a second before looking at him, his eyes seemingly unseeing as if he were recalling very unpleasant memories…

"Achnologia..."

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Natsu's brilliant flames engulfed the dragon, completely covering it and the surrounding area in smoke and char.

Silence suffocated everyone…

"Ha! See?! You dumb Iceface! It was so eas- ACCCK!"

Natsu was suddenly slammed into a nearby boulder by a long, thick, black and spiky tail. Taken completely by surprise and thrown into the boulder without the luxury of bracing, probably giving him a massive concussion…

The entire group screamed in fear as they watched the dragon take into the sky, just above them and high enough that no one could get to it.

Then it did the one thing they all hope wouldn't happen.

Acnologia began to charge up its roar attack once more…

"Fuck! Everyone, get out of the area!" Gildarts shouted, fear taking over not just him but most other members as they all bolted away from the area, all almost trip[ping over themselves as they did so…

Gray knew he had to move, no one would survive that blast if it hit them, but just as he was about too run for it, he spotted the unconscious figure of Natsu embedded in the crater and way within the area of danger.

"Shit..." He looked up and saw Erza and Loke watching the Fire Dragon Slayer too… They didn't know what to do…

"You two!" He bellowed towards them. Catching their attention. Erza looked at him in shock, probably expecting him to have left by now. "Both of you! Get out of here, I'll get the idiot out myself!"

"But-"

He cut Erza off and glared.

"For fuck sake! Just move, I won't have anyone dying on my watch!" He stared, watching the two of them as he went to move in closer. "And I swear erza, you don't get yourself and Loke out I won't forgive you!"

That made Erza go white, she did glare slightly, but he knew she would move now…

And move she did, even lifting Loke up by the midriff and forcibly dragging him away as they left the area entirely.

"Thats two distractions out the way… Now..." He said. Glaring at the troublesome Dragon Slayer. "One asshole nuisance left to deal with."

And with that, he bolted into a mad dash towards Natsu, all the while keeping an eye on Achnologia and his clear magical ball of death brewing in his jaws. His eyes widened when he saw its size. It was almost complete by the time he had got to Natsu's side. But he was embedded deep in that rock, but if he was lucky and quick, he could get him out before they were both disassembled.

He quickly scrambled to work, grabbing Natsu's clothing by the front as he tried to rip him out of his hard coffin.

And of course, between his nerves, the awkward angling of his body and the ever looming threat of annihilation on the horizon, Natsu had to fuck everything up even more… By waking up…

"G-Gray…?"

"Shut up Flamebrain, I am getting you out of you well deserved confinement." Gray flicked him on the nose painfully. Getting a small squeak out of him.

"Watch it you bastard, when I get… get out of here… I… will..."

"Fall over and proceed to die? Yes you will, now shut up and let me help you. Idiot!"

Natsu went to retort, then he looked above them both and saw Achnologia charging up his fear inducing attack again. Seeing his hands tied Natsu knew that any help was better than nothing, even if was from Gray…

"Okay, on three, try and thrust forward okay?" Gray asked, getting a nod in return, he then began to count down from three.

"Okay… 3, 2, 1… Heave!"

And one massive effort later, Natsu came sprawling to the ground. Dizzyness overcame him quickly. Trying to stand was a straining effort in himself, then trying to move was impossible for him.

"Shit, this is what you deserve for trying to even damage that bastard!" Gray growled, watching him drop to one knee as a wave of dizzyness crashed through him. "You look so pathetic right now, I should just leave you here to suffer the consequences as I get home to Flare and my guild..."

And for once Gray sneered at Natsu…

"And do you know what?" He asked, grabbing Natsu by the chin and forcing him to look up at him.

"I won't do that."

"Wha-woah!"

Before Natsu could blink, he found his arm around Gray shoulders and his body being dragged away from his rocky prison and away from Achnologia.

But not far enough…

"Shit!" Gray cursed loudly, startling Natsu. "He's about to blow us to hell!"

And he was right, the low rumbling building up higher and higher showed that, Achnologia began moving to look down on the two mages with a gleeful stare.

Gray knew what was going to happen next, there was too much ground to cover before he and Natsu were toast. Natsu was still getting over his impairment and would probably end up dead with no help…

"Fuck..." He swallowed tightly. He had made up his mind as to what he was going to do… He turned to look at Natsu, who was looking at him weirdly…

"What are you doing, looking like that?!" Natsu glared at Gray… Unsure of what his next move would be…

"Sorry Natsu… You are probably going to either hate me further, or love. Depeneds on how much of a douche you are still."

Gray grinned at him, his confident eyes boring into Natsu's. And before he knew what was going on, Natsu found himself being propelled through the air at a high speed, far enough away to be relatively safe from harm.

Hitting a nearby tree, he shook his head and looked back at Gray, absolute shock plastered on his face.

"You asshole what are you doing!?" He bellowed at the Devil Slayer…

"Get to your family Char-Head… Tell them that you owe me one or i'll beat your ass harder than I ever have before." Gray smirked. But his eyes telling a different story, a story that Natsu instantly got…

He suddenly felt a rush of anger, sorrow and fear wash through him. He didn't know what to do, he had dreamed of beating Gray senseless for his evil actions, but now that he would get his comeuppance he suddenly didn't want it to happen at all… He didn't want THIS…

"Gray! No! Get out of there you icehead idiot!" He screamed… But to no avail…

"Too late for that asshole, look at me." He pointed at his stomach and Natsu saw what he was referring to… The wounds on his stomach were re-opened, probably from putting too much strain on it during the fight with Hades. It was starting to bleed again and it looked very painful. He could see why Gray hadn't started to run anymore. He must have started to use everything up trying to help him live…

Was it his fault?…

"Oh god, Gray fight it! Move!"

He even tried to move, but Gray noticed, his eyes flashed and a wall of ice appeared just as soon as he started taking steps towards him…

"Nice try, Natsu…" Gray retorted. "But as usual you are not helping things… Now fuck off."

He gave Natsu one last smile before Achnologia finally roared and engulfed the entire area… Gray was caught, unable to move out and Natsu had to watch as he was completely destroyed by the monsters legendary attack.

"GRAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!"

::-()-::

"We can't escape..." Cana whispered, holding onto Gildarts and hugging him as tight as she could. The Crash mage reciprocated the gesture with the same hug, holding his daughter as she let the tears roll down her cheeks.

"The boat, it's gone." Freed gasped… "There's no way off the island..."

"Were done for..."

"No..."

Erza couldn't believe it… Was this how she and the others were going to die? On an old island with no way to escape? It was tragic, fantasy almost. But she knew this was no bad dream, she wasn't going to wake up from this and be in fairy hills.

Everything had gone so wrong so quickly… How could have gone so wrong though? This was meant to be a simple S-class trial, nothing out of the ordinary. Why did the Balaam alliance guild have to interfere? Why did they have to attract that dragon? Why did she have to leave Natsu and Gray behind?

It was so unfair, none of this was supposed to happen, she genuinely thought that Natsu was going to claim his desired S-class status and that she was going to be able to congratulate him and take him out on the S-class missions he had always wanted to do. Maybe she could have taught him to release his hatred of Gray and find it within his heart to forgive him some day, or at least tolerate him.

But none of that was happening now…

So maybe death was a mercy…

Soon enough Achnologia had found them all, looking at them with a malice unseen in anything alive.

That was when Natsu had trudged through the forest, a distant look in his eyes as he looked into the sky and watched the dragon lifelessly…

Erza had never seen Natsu like that, that fact scared her…

But she couldn't ask what was wrong, as Makarov told them to gather around him. So not one to disobey, she did…

"My children, Freed has come up with a possible way to keep us safe, but it requires all of us to give him our power to help make it work..." He announced. "Please everyone, join hands, we must let freed do his work…

As much as she wanted to see what was with Natsu she had no time, Juvia had grabbed her hand and Wendy did her other… Natsu took a little to even move but eventually he was stuck between Makarov and Laxus…

Suddenly the circle they had all formed began to glow in the centre, concentrating all magic into freed as he worked, he quickly entered the circle and joined hand with Laxus and Cana.

They all looked up to see Achnologia charging up one hell of a breath attack, it wouldn't be long now, soon they'll either be dead or alive somehow…

' _I hope Gray is okay..._ ' Erza thought just as Achnologia finally roared and sent the ball of imminent death down directly on the group… The ground began to rumble, shake and shatter underneath them. But it was okay, they would live… They had too…

And Erza knew that they would, even if the future seemed uncertain, it was something she just felt in her heart…

They would live on, they were not leaving the realm of living just yet…

So when Tenroujima Island was utterly destroyed, encapsulated in a miasma of death and terror. It was okay…

They would be back soon… Right…

::-()-::

(7 years later)

' _They'll be back soon… I hope..._ '

Those were the thoughts that infested Romeo Conbolt each and everyday… Everyday, he would look to the horizon of the sea and stare for a long as humanly possible, waiting to see the ship that would eventually back over that fine line and with it, it would bring them all back. Natsu, Erza, Mirajane, Cana, Gildarts…

It would bring them back soon enough…

He believed that…

::-()-::

Bad start to a second season huh?

Yeah this is what happens when I plan things out, I try to not plan to heavily otherwise. XD

So here we are, finally getting into the swing of things, The Ripple Effect: Season 2 has officially hit the fanfiction stores, buy now and get your free guest card to the behind the scenes specials. XD

So I thought to keep things fun I would bring back trivia time for this series, as it was a fun thing to do with you all in the previous season. I hope you don't mind. :)

TRIVIA TIME!

1: What is your dream job/career?

(I forgot if I ask this XD)

Mine is Acting or being an author. I still haven't changed from that pathway. But haven't got better at the latter obviously. ;)

2: What is your favourite comedian?

Lee Evans, although Frankie Boyle has been shooting up on my list recently…

3: What is your preferred ending for Fairy tail? (as the ending is really close)

Death please, kill Juvia, Gajeel, Makarov and bring some general tension to the arc. Have Achnologia held back until Zeref was dealt with, have E.N.D Go on a rampage, have him and Gray (with a secret weapon that's actually worth the wait) try to fight Achnologia but untimely fail until the rest of the slayers get involved and then they end up winning but with Gray dying to keep Natsu safe…

You make up the rest from there. :)

Of course E.N.D Doesn't stay… but maybe he does. Lol

So now that this has been done I hope you enjoyed this, leave your criticism or praise in reviews and I will see you next time. :D

Stay cool,

-Viperhat


	2. Empty: Part 2

First off, my apologies if this comes out a bit late, I had every intention of posting it earlier…

I have been feeling rather down lately, personal issues that were unavoidable but hard to deal with, I am usually a nihilistic guy in general with an apathetic outlook on most things so when this issue occurred it has made things rather hard for me to deal with (because I generally have no clue as to what I am able to do). So my work ethic has suffered more than regularly as a result.

For once it isn't writers block at least so that's something good…

also I fogot what age I made Flare in this universe… My bad, but I think I had her roughly 16, 17? so I am going with 17.

::-()-::

Seven years…

Seven whole years…

Romeo could barely believe it himself, all of his friends and family, there in one instant, gone in the next. He had half expected to see Gray come and finish them all off while they were weak. But he never turned up, not even to offer condolences to the bunch that were left.

Life had been automatic for a long time, he would wake up, train in secret with his master, go to the guild, watch the daily dose of moping and sadness as he fought to stop it from grasping him before training in secret again, then he would sleep and repeat the process…

But he didn't feel anything from the routine anymore, he forgot what positivity had felt like since they had all disappeared, never to be seen again along with the sacred island that had seemingly left with them.

The training was helpful, but he didn't know to what purpose he was training for anymore, it was more just muscle memory guiding him through the seamless tasks that Totumaru had laid out for him to complete, and while he did notice a huge difference, his body filling out (although that was probably puberty kicking in) his skills increasing dramatically, his body and mind becoming stronger and stronger seemingly everyday… It all felt… pointless…

He had once told himself that he would become stronger than Natsu, and he still had that goal in mind. But if he ever did now, who was going to acknowledge that achievement? How would he know when he had out-done Natsu if he was no longer around for him to compare himself too?

And even then, he was still barely able to keep the bastards from Twilight Ogre away from the guild, he'd end up with so many cuts and bruises and sometimes even a broken bone or two that he would be out of commission for some time each fight, in which time the damned guild would send more of their cronies over to collect taxes when he was unable to defend his guild…

The funny thing was, even if it was negative, those fights against the evil bastards were the only times Romeo had actually _felt_ something in him, something that reminded him that he wasn't a zombie, but alive and growing stronger… It was the only time he felt the will to carry on with the bleak life in the guild…

But there was one thing he knew of that could make all of that obsolete…

So he would stand here, by the side of the sea, where they all had departed and he would wait, he would wait for the day he would see the boats come back, packed to the brim with those who had gone missing that day…

"I know you guys are out their..." He whispered to himself, the sun setting over the horizon casting a dark reddish orange hue over the entirety of the beautiful city of Magnolia…

"Please, come back..."

::-()-::

"Nulpudding!" Came a deep gruff shout from the Raven Tail Master. His voice carrying a new found authority and strength.

"Yes boss!" The purple grinning man poked his head around the doors corner.

"I have been notified of a certain magical signature sparking up around a part of the ocean here." Ivan drawled, pointing towards the mass of water that had once been home to Tenrou. Ivan smirked, watching Nulpudding scratch his head before clasping his hand s back behind him again.

"Ah, I get ya boss." He said after a few moments. "That place where Flare had gone with our late member am I correct?"

The dark grin on Ivan's face became more pronounced than ever before…

"I want you to go and check it out at noon, this is strictly between you and me though Nul… If anyone happens to find out about this..." He paused, giving his minion a dark glare that confirmed the consequences to Nulpudding without them needing to be said.

The purple man shrank back, fear starting to make him shake slightly. Ivan had changed big time after Gray had gone missing. He seemed more upset that Flare had returned over his prized S-Class Ex-fairy… Not that he cared, in fact he had wished that he could trade the girl in for the Ice Mage, he was just better, plain and simple. More insight, more determination, more strength, speed, a healing factor, everything….

"I-I understand boss! No one will get a peep outta me..."

"They better not..." Was the menacing reply he was stuck with before being ordered out of his masters office…

Things had changed greatly for Raven Tail, legal guild or not. But Nulpudding couldn't care less, his masters plan was coming to fruition very soon, this was more of a wrench than anything…

Who knows, this may be the chance to get their prize mage back after all… But it isn't likely..

::-()-::

Another day, another bandit caught…

at least, most of them…

Flare sighed, the bandits this time had been rather tricky to get a hold of, they knew what they were doing and it was difficult enough to capture the ones she had, but one of them was definitely the leader so that was the bonus covered…

It wasn't too much to scoff at, but 80.000 Jewel was a good amount to get by for the next week… But now she had to head for the guild again, everyone needed to know the news…

She had grown during the time between Gray's disappearance and now. At the age of 24 she had grown in so many ways, she didn't know when it all happened but she wasn't complaining for the most part… She had grown taller, now reaching a height of 6ft which was tall for a woman of her build and she knew this. She had certainly filled out in areas she knew were already filled out in. She knew they helped on missions where she needed to seduce a client or get away with something she had done but she hated that her chest was now heavier than ever before and that she had to buy a new dress because her behind refused to fit in her old one, luckily she had found the same dress just in different measurements but it was an ordeal nonetheless.

But more importantly than any of that, she had matured. Her face now softer and framed in a way that made her odd coloured eyes stand out In an amazing way… She no longer had the gleam of insanity behind her retina's but instead she knew that a sadness that threatened to spill over now housed them.

She was different, that much was certain, even speaking now she realised that she would rarely return to her raspy hiss, only in situations where she felt emotionally out of control did it ever peak its head out…

She had turned into a tragic, yet beautiful woman, she knew it and had used it too her advantage for many a job. But she couldn't ever find the time to dwell on how she looked anymore, she simply couldn't care less…

Not when her saviour had not returned yet…

Luckily, her hair had grown down to her shapely rear and the locks that fell over her face kept anyone from seeing her tears. It had been seven years since she had last seen him. He would have been so attractive at this time, his age would have been two or three years her senior, but he had never come back from the island…

But she, somehow, for some unknown reason, believed that he would come back, to her…

"Quit it Flare, don't break down until you get home..." She whispered to herself… She had managed to find what cottage Gray was talking about, it was exactly how he had described it, roomy, by the lake, peaceful, everything she had always wanted (even if he had never known that). It was paradise in the form of wood, timber and brick…

But she still felt so empty…

She had realised the week that she had moved in, she could have everything the world offered her, money, fame, glory, pleasure, competition, anything her mind could conjure… But it would never make her happy…

In the end she only lived in the cottage because Gray had spent all that time saving it for her… But without him there to be with her… It was not worth it… In fact, if she could trade it all back for him, she would have done so, no questions asked…

thankfully, she had managed to hold most of her tears back before she reached her pathway to said cottage… Then, and only then, did she let the tears fall… tears full of anger, tears full of sorrow, tears brimming with doubt, but no matter how much she cried those emotions continued to flare up within her, stopping her from ever reaching peace since…

She knew the routine by now, she would walk up her smooth dirt pathway, see the see the red bricks that seemed to be in pristine shape, not a crack in sight, she would gaze upon the thick dark wood pillars jutting up from the ground and keeping the roof from falling to bits.

She would then see the beautiful lake with water as clean and as transparent as the sky during a cloudless night. She would make the sharp right on the path, making the bags of jewel sway from the sudden motion before walking up to her door the same colour as the wooden pillars, she would turn the golden handle and let her self in to the neatly kept front room…

Red, brown and gold were the colours of the interior, all wooden material the same colour as the door she walked in through, the bricks red and white and the few metal ornaments and handle gold…

It was certainly spacious that was a fact, the rooms were big enough to leap from one side to the other in three's, even the basement underneath was able to hold almost everything she had earned in the past three years and she still had room…

But she ignored it all, she had to follow the routine, make something to eat, read a book, train, and sleep, but not before wishing the picture of her and Gray a good night before dozing off…

' _What a way to live...'_ Was all she thought as she began the monotonous process as she had for the last seven years…

Hopefully she didn't break down in ears again, like she had for the last seven years…

::-()-::

I know you guys want longer chapters, but this arc is really meant to be catching up with the other characters I had neglected through the last season of TRE. Don't worry, this will probably only be like three or four chapters as a whole for this arc before we move on to a much more better and more expansive arc. But I am skipping out on the celestial keys arc thing, I don't remember the name of it. XD

I am sorry if this chapter was boring but it needed to be made, as will the next few, that way we are all up to date with them all…

TRIVIA TIME!

1: What is the most difficult situation you have been put through? (can be anything XD)

Friends and relationships clashing, I hate the drama especially when I end up involved…

2: If you could make your own anime/manga, what would It be about and why?

I'd probably go with a futuristic setting, set in nuclear winter, have it be like a pseudo-apocalypse thing with a huge government conspiracy that is being slowly unfolded by a lone squad of soldiers as they are hunted by the military and government corps and such. Really gritty and dark but with some humour here and there.

I'd call it 'Cataclysm: Winter'…

3: Is there anything you'd change about the Grand Magic Games arc?

A little bit, I wouldn't have Natsu just suddenly defeat Sting and Rogue after throwing a tantrum. I'd have Gajeel help him too. Gray wouldn't die, but he'd be a hair line away from death and instead of Juvia being there it's Erza, Natsu or Mirajane.

Thanks for reading and stay cool,

-Viperhat


	3. Empty: Part 3

Back again, hopefully to make this the third chapter within a month. :D

Unfortunately the 'Empty: arc' is going to be slow and non-plot orientated, that is the reason it is going to only be two more chapters long. Since I am not a master at writing characters and introspections like a certain author on this sight I mention far too much (you know who you are) I tend to jump from character to character fairly often.

I hope that I can at least interest you lot with these chapters, at least until we hit the big arc that everybody hates (the GMG). XD Then you can all call me a wanker and leave. Lol

anyway,

LET'S READ!

::-()-::

"Lyon." Yuka peered through his leaders open door, scanning the room for any sign of the aforementioned Ice Mage. Luckily he wouldn't have to run around the city for him as he spotted Lyon slipping his boots on as he looked over to him with speed, seemingly alert.

The Ice Mage raised an eyebrow at Yuka silently giving him permission to carry on… Yuka quickly picked the gesture up and nodded.

"Jura has alerted me to inform you off your departure in an hour, he worries you won't be by the boats in time for the search..."

Yuka watched his leader sigh in resignation. He couldn't but feel sorry for the poor guy, everyone didn't seem to understand that these trips were tiring him out, he had bags under his eyes from the lack of sleep he had suffered over the past month. The remnants of Fairy tail were getting desperate, which he could understand, sympathise with even. But this was not healthy for anyone, not them, not himself and definitely not Lyon.

"Okay, anything else or is that all he sent you to bother me with?" Lyon's haughty tone was laced with a tiny drop of annoyance, which was something because the arrogant man was extremely easy to piss off at the best of times.

' _Maybe he's learning...'_ Yuka laughed inwardly. He knew like everyone else that Lyon was apparently a more arrogant version of his pseudo-brother. From what he had learned and what he had been told after the Orecion Seis Gray was just the same, if not less experienced in dealing with emotions…

But Lyon was surely a man of bias, so there was probably _something_ good to the guy…. Probably…

Yuka shook his head. "No, I hope you all find them though. It would be good for the poor fairies to have something back."

Lyon nodded in agreement, getting off from the side of his bed and closing the pristine shoe box that he had always put the damn shoes he wore in. Scoping his room out, he could see nothing that was out of place or anything below perfect. He smiled lightly, a man so brilliant such as himself needed his room to reflect that with finesse.

"I do hope we find something at least as well, maybe even someone..."

Yuka knew exactly who he was talking about…

Lyon could be callous, rude and extremely arrogant, but he was a human being. He did miss his brother, after the history and emotions brought on by the younger disciple were hard to miss after-all…

Lyon gave a look, Yuka knew what he wanted, so he nodded his head to him and turned around to leave the property. Giving his leader the space he required.

It was difficult to find the motivation, but Lyon knew it was necessary, after-all- how could any result be achieved if he sat around doing nothing?

::-()-::

Today was the day…

It was happening, truly happening…

everyone had been preparing for this for a long time, too long… but at the same time it didn't feel long enough. As if all of the preparation that was taken could never aid them in taking on or even understanding the weight of the next few hours would hold…

Lyon looked out and into the horizon from his position on the huge Lamia Scale boat. Above, seemingly piercing the clouds was the stunning Christina, that from what Lyon could remember held the three pretty boys in every witch weekly magazine and the guild master of the guild it belonged too.

Even looking to his left and right, the Ice Mage could see five ships on each side bearing his insignia proudly along the side and masts.

"This is it..." The words left his lips quietly, a whisper almost. "We are going back to the island for the 200th time..."

His temples throbbed from the very thought of it…

He was honestly tired from all of this pointless searching. They were never going to find anything, why could Fairy Tail members just move on and let him get on with life?

It was bad enough that he had found out that Gray was most likely on the island when it had been destroyed, he didn't want the added pain of searching around that area, it always felt off, like something was not mean to be the way it was there…

"Ah, Lyon..." Turning his head, he looked back to see Jura Neekis behind him, his ever present look of confidence on his face. Whether he was or not was another thing entirely… There was nothing to be confident about here after all…

"Jura?" He just wanted to be left alone, the sooner the Earth Mage left the better.

"I take it your opinion of this expedition is still negative?"

Lyon sighed…

"Actually, I'm kinda hopeful this time around..."

"Really?"

"No."

It was times like these that Jura needed a drink. The wizard saint wasn't in the mood to deal with Lyon's snarky attitude…

Feeling like he was going to face-palm hard, Jura quickly steered the conversations topic from the clearly bear bones search party to something else. But what, he had no clue.

"You know, you were very close to being left behind this morning." He explained, looking at the Ice Mage with a sternness that Made the apathetic Man cringe slightly. Jura wasn't one you wanted upset, he wasn't a wizard saint for show after-all.

"I apologise, but I don't exactly want to be here." He looked away from Jura, staring out towards the sea, his expression unreadable. But he gave off the feeling that he didn't want or need a casual conversation right now and Jura understood why…

"I understand."

"Good."

He really was in a foul mood, he was good at hiding his anger most of the time, only certain people could really put him out to such an extent like that. However, Jura really did understand his mood when he was forced to do this.

"I'll leave you to it then, we'll be leaving for the search point in an hour, get ready."

Lyon nodded and Jura left the deck…

"Why does everyone have to push it with me?" He sighed. Looking away from the horizon, staring at the water below, only to see his sullen expression stare right back…

::-()-::

"This is the guild..."

Three cloaked figures stood upon a huge cliff-face, staring down towards said guild. It was titanic in size, towering over the mountain like the devil himself standing above a mere Imp. The sky scraping building was entirely black, red trimming traced around the outlines. Jagged, pointy and dangerous looking spikes were randomly dotted everywhere on each tilted roof. There seemed to be over fifty different levels and there were almost twenty horns and flaming spikes for each level…

"These guys must have some huge ego problem..." The smallest of the three sniggered.

The tallest of the three chided the smallest for the retort, giving the little one a light glare in an attempt to keep everything serious.

"Ultear, can you do something about the master? He uses a powerful variant of Racers magic..."

Ultear, looked at him and nodded. "I should be able to counter him if I am out of his range, but you will need to have Meredy link your feelings up with myself… And after that little chiding, I don't think she will do it willingly."

"To right I won't." Meredy grinned, glee seeping through her face.

Jellal only sighed. "Meredy, we have a dark guild to beat, I will apologise if you link me up with Ultear when the time is right."

Under the hood Jellal could gauge any kind of reaction, it annoyed him to an extent, this was supposed to be his speciality (despite his own down-in-the-dumps attitude) and the fact that he couldn't even tell by her posture made him less than pleased to say the least.

Luckily, it seemed that his promise was more than enough for the strangely chirpy young woman as she snickered a quiet little snigger at his behaviour and gave them the thumbs up in agreement.

"Oki doki, I want that apology though." She affirmed.

Jellal hated moments like this for a good reason…. He was looking straight at it.

"So now that's over and done with, how do we go about taking these guys out?" He asked, sighing when silence was what he was given in response. "The Guild Master uses Racers magic but with a stronger effect than him. We do not know if the radius can reach out here, we are roughly 800 metres away and I have no clue if any of us can even attack effectively from this distance..."

Still nothing…

"Okay then, how about, after taking out the goons, either Meredy or Myself can try to make a hole in the wall of wherever we find this guy? So you can try and attack them with your Ice Ultear?"

It wasn't the best plan, in fact there were a few glaring flaws in the it. But it was all they had with the allotted time they had to work with. The Rune Knights knew where this place was and had plans to take the guild down in a few hours. So the plan didn't need to be planned out to every last minute detail, time wasn't on their side after all.

"We don't need to kill, or the reports will paint us in a bad light again."

"Jellal, what people think doesn't matter." Ultear reasoned.

"Maybe, but it doesn't make our job easier if they want to either kill us or turn us in to be killed."

She was surprised that she hadn't really thought about that. Maybe springing this guy was a better idea than she gave Meredy credit for.

"Good point, but maybe we should get on with the task at hand rather than bickering here all night."

It took a minute more, but the group decided that Jellal's plan was the best (and only) plan they had right now. So as they got closer Ultear perched herself inside one of the spread out guard towers, knocking out the two guards and stealing a pair of binoculers.

If she could see what was going on thenthis plan was going to be harder to fulfil than anticipated.

"Hopefully these things work..." Quizzically, Ultear put them to her eyes and quickly spotted Jellal and Meredy taking out the chains on the draw bridge, causing four guards to walk out in confusion. She smirked, she knew that they stood no chance, Meredy had already knocked her two out whilst Jellal had kicked his into the treeline, out of sight.

"Good start." She stated, her time alone was going to get rather dull rather quickly. Even if stating the obvious to herself gave her some form of entertainment then so be it.

"Up to them for a while now, they better get this done..."

::-()-::

(10 minutes later)

"We are not getting this done! We are not getting this done!" Meredy screeched, running through the huge room on the top floor, looking for any form of cover available to her. Her expression akin to that of a chicken running away from a pervy and sadistic fox…

The plan had not worked out at all…

The second they got in Meredy had the smartest idea in the world, instantly, she pulls Jellal around the tower, bulldozing through each room with ease. The plan was simple to her, get them up to the main room and link Jellal with Ultear as quick as possible.

Then all hell broke loose…

Turns out that the massive hole in the wall was nowhere near the kind of big that Jellal had in mind… It was fairly large but it didn't even take up half of the wall, it was a quarter at best and in the very corner that was the furthest away from the guild master…

Ultear probably got confused and worried, maybe she thought the plan hadn't worked and so when Meredy finally linked her up to Jellal, he got kicked in the gut hard, sending him into the wall. That was when Ultears many orbs came out of nowhere and completely decimated the area around the three.

In short, the plan hadn't worked at all…

"Jellal! Do something!" Meredy yelped, jumping over one of the orbs that crashed near her. "He's to fast!"

"On it!" The magic was effective, that was for sure. But Jellal knew that his speed could make up for whatever was lost initially. "Give me a moment."

Suddenly, she watched him zip away in the blink of an eye, the yellow light that followed him making a bee line for the master, who clearly had no clue what was happening. Of course their enemy would have been distracted by the flying balls of all things…

So within the second Jellal had darted off towards the towering masked man, said man had been knocked out of his room and into the human shaped indentation within his wall. So the plan was a complete success!

"Yay Jellal!" Meredy cheered, laughing as the mage walked up to the master and pulled at the white paper in the pocket of his robes. It was odd that she hadn't seen the paper fly out from the first kick.

"What are those?" She asked. Moving up and over, trying to peer around the taller mans shoulder to see the contents. But when he didn't get a response she pouted, turning him around to face her her annoyance beginning to creep up from being ignored.

"Oi! Jellal! Pay attention to me you-" Her attitude faded after she forced him to hold the paper down and she got a look of his face…

"Jellal?"

He looked at her, a look of utter shock on his face, as if he had just witnessed god for the first time in his life…

"We need to find Ultear, now..."

"Why? What is it?" She asked, confused and concerned at the same time.

"Its about Fairy Tail, about Tenrou..."

::-()-::

So Jellal's bunch have found out something big too… But what? Who knows and who cares?

I know you guys didn't want this chapter, neither did I, but in all honesty. It is needed, though the next chapter should be at the very least entertaining for you all.

Unfortunately; I am too tired and Trivia Time is going to suffer for that, I will probably look at this in the morning, hate it, loathe myself and post it anyway…

Go me…

TRIVIA TIME!

1: If you could have one game/series re-mastered or re-made what would it be and why?

Shadow the Hedgehog, because that game is the absolute best, no debate.

2: If you could have the voice of a celebrity, the body of a celebrity and the career of a celebrity who would they be and why? (Note, one celeb per point for example, Jon for voice, Kim for body and Tommy Wiseau for career)

Brendon Urie for voice, clear decision. XD

Ryab Gosling for Body, like toned and shit, good choice. XD

Robert Downey Jr. For career. Because he is super popular and makes lots of money doing something he likes. X3

3: If you could create an OC for Fairy Tail, who would it be, what magic would they use, personality? Etc. Tell me why too. XD (if you want)

If you read Trials of Ice you already know my OC. XD I guess I like the OC I made because he would add a unique element into the series if he existed. X3 Not to toot my own horn of course.

Thanks for reading, as always, reviews are always appreciated, criticism too.

Stay cool,

-Viperhat


	4. Empty: Part 4

So the manga is finally done…

And it could not have ended any worse than how it did. Like seriously, I could make an entire video about how incomplete, rushed, boring, typical, forced and hollow the ending was- but then i'd be here for two hours at the very least.

Very fucking upset with how this series ended, it gives morons like Axel xXx some credibility when Mashima starts to become predictably awful and fit some form of mould that you can see from a mile away. Even if Axel is 90% wrong most of the time.

Anyway, we aren't here to talk about the canon, you are here because this popped up on your feed. Luckily for you, this is the final chapter for the 'Empty arc' sorry for the boring start, but this needed to be done, as not many characters got the rightful spotlight in the previous season.

Just quickly!

I am changing the Twilight Ogre mages a little, because they rub me the wrong way.

Let's read!

::-()-::

(One Hour Later)

"Any new jobs for me?"

Macao sighed.

"I told you Wakaba, if one comes up you'd be the first to know." He rubbed his scalp, his fingers gliding over the greying hair as he watched his old frienemy slouch and let out a deep breath. He looked so wilted and tired these days. Work was hard to come by and most mages now were spending more time out of the guild and taking on little chores around their local areas to earn some extra jewel.

Supply and demand was something that Fairy Tail had been struggling with for a long time now. Demand for their services was becoming so strained that it made Macao do a victory dance in his head when he managed to secure just a handful of potential jobs. But the added stress of other mages taking the jobs before his own could along with the ever increasing mountain of taxation by Twilight Ogre was about to do him in…

At least that's what it felt like…

' _Maybe I should fight for another batch of jobs today...'_ Macao, in his eternal wisdom had made the genius plan of planning days to order jobs, since demand was so low, he knew those days were going to be hell for him.

' _On second thought...'_ He grimaced, thinking of having to deal with the mayor of Crocus. He wondered how Makarov had dealt with the man, the mayor wasn't to pleasant of an individual but at least he could be reasoned with, otherwise he'd have felt more like a dictator under the rule of his king.

He wondered if the king had any troubles with the man…

"Probably comes with the job..." He wondered aloud. Being the Mayor of the capital couldn't be an easy role to fill. There were so many jobs and missions and quests that were being fought over by every guild, small and big alike that even the most positive of people would probably feel dead on the inside after long enough.

But then again, Macao knew his knowledge was limited at best.

"Oi, Macao!"

His attention was snapped away from his inner monologue as Wakaba, waved his hand in front of his face. A look of annoyance plastering his face.

"I said, I need another drink!"

"Then ask Laki to give you a re-fill! That isn't my job!"

"Do I need to kick your ass?!"

"Do I need to kick yours?!"

"Bring it 'Master'!"

That was the last straw for the 4th guild master, letting a frustrated yell out as he jumped over the bar and tackled the Smoke mage to the floor, landing with a pervasive 'Thud'.

"There they go again..." Sighed Laki. Cleaning a used glass as she watched the entertainment. "He's the master now, he should really learn to grow up."

"Maybe." Reedus leant onto the bar, sighing. "But cut them some slack, it's how they release some steam." He gave her a grin before going back to his drawing, catching her attention.

"What are you drawing Reedus?" She asked.

"Hmm? Oh, just our friends." His drawing was difficult for the smaller woman to see, with her being small and Reedus being strangely tall. The page was obstructed to say the least.

"Mind if I have a look-see?"

A barrage of smoke and fire cut both of the mages of from their conversation, suddenly, a green blur flew straight into Reedus, knocking the drawing out of Reedus' hand and sending him tumbling to the floor with Wakaba in tandem.

And of course, the drawing landed right on Romeo and Azlacks table…

"What did you dra-" Azlack was cut off, his throat constricting the longer he stared at the drawing, his eyes glazing over…

"Whats wrong?" Groaned Reedus from under Wakaba. Attempting to remove the Smoke Mage off of him.

He was filled in when Romeo cast his eyes onto the drawing…

"What?" Reedus had no clue why Azlack was acting the way he was, let alone Romeo staring at his work in shock. What had he done now? He knew about his habit of forgetting what he draws but surely he hadn't been that awful.

Right?

So of course, when he finally managed to pick his now skinny frame up from the heap of smoke and Wakaba on the floor and look at his art, his jaw hit the floor. He understood Azlack's pained expression now, he understood more than he felt like he wanted to. To the inner pain behind his eyes, to the stiffening of his entire body. It all became clear to him.

For on the piece of paper, were his friends, family even. To every single minute detail of what he remembered.

It must have been roughly Nine years since they all looked that age, it looked to be before Lisanna's 'death' as she too was in the picture, just behind Elfman but in front of Cana, who slunk on her stool with her first alcoholic beverage ever.

Reedus watched as the others began to form a circle around the table and as each of their faces dropped, the more of a prick he felt. These were good people, they didn't deserve to have this dug back up…

' _Mavis, I am such an ass.'_ He berated himself, feeling like the next Black Mage among his peers.

His attention turned back to his picture. His eyes drawn to the familiar cheeky smile of Natsu and Gray beside him. The two both looking at each other with an underlying fire in their eyes, daring the other to even try and beat them.

God, how he missed them all, that painful memory from the lacrima resurfaced in his head, reminding him of how far Gray had fallen to the dark. Soon after hearing about Raven Tail's S-Class Mage going missing and/or possibly being dead he had found out that Gray was that S-Class in particular. It was awful enough for the Artist/Mage to remember Gray's downfall, but his death only made him feel numb to his old comrades passing…

Truly a tragedy if there ever was one…

"It's been seven years since they disappeared." Bisca murmured sadly.

"I still don't know how to react to it." He looked up at Macao, looking into his pained eyes. "I mean, I'm upset, but I thought I would be over it by now… Seven years though- and I still struggle with it..."

A crushing silence stifled anyone else's attempt to speak. No-one needed to hear about the past any more than they already had, Gray's change was bad enough, their comrades, friends, family even dying? That was even worse.

What's worse was that they all wanted to make their voices heard in this one instance, to be understood and relieve the stress and tension they had been bottling up for so long. But it would only make everyone feel worse, crying about it wasn't going to solve anything either so there was no point in bringing it up at all.

Each day felt more hopeless than the last, which was amazing- considering that it had been growing progressively worse for seven years, even more impressive was that this wasn't going to be the last time it got worse…

::-()-::

"See? As usual, there is absolutely nothing here."

Lyon scowled at the crewman who had the audacity to make the comment, making said crewman yelp and hurriedly return to his duties. The last thing he needed to hear was everyone's displeasure, if they wanted to hear true annoyance and displeasure then all they had to do was ask…

He knew that he should be used to it by now, but he always felt so angry and tired when these little missions took place. He knew Jura understood his personal relations to certain members- Wendy came to mind right away, the cute little girl always managed to make him smile a little.

Gray, of course came to mind. What happened to him was unfair and unjust. But from what he had managed to gather from records from the council, he had still kept up with training and retained some sense of normalcy. Which, despite his still mixed feelings on him, Lyon didn't want to see Gray deteriorate again.

But they were dead… If the island they were on was utterly destroyed then what chance did they have overall? The answer was so obvious and painfully blunt that it made him physically sick to his stomach. Life was a cruel mistress and Lyon's comprehension only grew to understand this saying the more he lost people he knew.

So, gazing over the seemingly endless expansive body he couldn't help but scowl, his face creasing into a vapid sneer as he fought to control the anger he felt.

"You really are upset with this aren't you."

It wasn't a question…

Jura already knew the answer.

Lyon ignored him, hoping he'd understand and leave him alone until they made it back home.

But, as it always had been- The world was out to get him.

Jura, moved up to the front of the ship where Lyon stood, leaning against the ship. Luckily, the foresight he had told him that Lyon was less than talkative. He wilfully ignored the half-hearted glare he received when he joint him in leaning against the rail, looking into the vast horizon just above the water-line.

There was a quick roll of the eyes that the Earth Mage caught and took in. Lyon was even worse than he had thought, surely by now he would have said something, even if the substance was missing from whatever he said.

' _He really really doesn't here does he?'_ Jura thought sardonically. He had to tread carefully, Lyon had a tendency to shut down when it came to pushing his pride to the side- and it was clear that he couldn't be bothered to even act prideful.

' _Understandable.'_ He turned his focus away from the Ice Mage, choosing to instead keep an eye on the water below. You could never be to careful after-all.

He stood there, watching for at least 10 minutes, never looking away unless he was needed. He, once again- could not see even a piece of rubble in sight. He sighed, a forlorn sense of hope being the only thing that kept him from turning and walking away…

And it paid off…

Soon, his ears picked up on a small, quiet ringing sound, like someone had been hit with a flash-bang, he couldn't even tell where the source was due to the sheer volume of the sound. It was certainly odd, these waters were some of the calmest in the world, even after the island had gone missing.

But he shrugged it off, for one reason, it wasn't growing in volume, nor was it getting even quieter. It was just a constant, insignificant noise in the back of his head…

That is of course, until it DID start getting louder…

His head picked up, looking around to see where the noise was coming from. It was still quiet, but it was much more harder to ignore. Even still, despite his wariness- he still felt it to be nothing of major concern.

But when even Lyon had started hearing the same damn thing, not to mention another increase in volume, Jura realised the one thing he had been hoping against since he heard the damn ringing. The small noise had been growing quicker and quicker, even to the point where the entire fleet could clearly hear it, but the source was untraceable still. It had been in the back of his head, but the sheer thought of it was enough to scare him.

Maybe the source was unable to be traced, because they were directly above or under the source!

"Shit." Sweating all of a sudden, he hurriedly pushed past lyon, earning an annoyed 'Watch it!' for his efforts, but he didn't listen, panic beginning to seep through his body and poison him. He knew what it was, it clicked into place, they were in the area where Tenrou once stood proudly, the magical ringing came out of nowhere, and now it was growing rapidly!

"Everyone! Get our ships the hell out of this area!" His voice pierced the air, reaching every boat in his vicinity. "The island is going to fall on top of us!"

Somewhere, under a blanket that covered the many crates within the underbelly of the boat. Nulpudding silently prayed for his dear life as he heard the sudden uproar up above...

::-()-::

(2 Hours Later)

"Okay Conbolt!" A deep, gruff voice called out, catching the attention of every guild member with a snap of the head. "Times up! You better have our jewel or you know what happens next!"

The voices malicious laughter filled the room, filling everyone's bodies to the brim with fear. Jobs had been hard to come by as of recent years. Fairy tail had become one of the weakest guilds in Fiore, barely giving the new guilds that were starting up any form of challenge as they were given most of the jobs and missions that originally found there way into Fairy Tail's decaying mission board.

They didn't have half of the ever increasing costs of the Twilight Ogre Guilds tax bracket.

A sullen sense of Trepidation filled the Fire Mage's being, causing a shiver to careen through his body. How did tell them of the bad news? The last thing he wanted was to end up in a brawl with these guys, they were mostly younger than him and much more powerful.

And he didn't want his son to go through the trouble of fighting them off again…

How pathetic of a father could he be? Unable to even defend his son from a group of thugs. He truly was a terrible father wasn't he…

Dragging his tired body from the bar, he turned around to face his fate in the face.

"The deadline wasn't until next week Thibault. Give it a rest and wait until then. We'll have your payment then anyway." Glaring at the young man with poofy hair before him. Macao gave them his best threatening face, ready to defend his family and guild if things got hairy. Which they were definitely going to go very soon if this kept up…

And it hadn't even reached a minute yet. Macao's face almost lit up a little, a new record was a new record, no matter the good or bad context.

"Wrongo! Check the calender." The arrogant undertone was sickly to his ears. However, Macao decided to humour the bastard and looked over towards the calender on the wall.

"What!" His jaw dropped all the way to the floor and shattered upon impact as he stared at the calender as the dreaded date stared back at him. Then a sudden pain erupted on the back of his head and he fell forward, groaning as he did.

"What the hell Wakaba!?" He yelled, turning to look at the Smoke Mage in anger.

"How could you forget about the damn bill!?" Wakaba yelled back, outrage lacing his voice like venom on a snakes. "What do you think is gonna happen now!?"

"Look!" He snarled, both at Wakaba and Thibault. Giving the two of them a glare. "First off, I have told you and your lot that you are no longer welcome here any more and I stock by that. It would be best if you did too!"

"You sure you wanna be talking to me like that you old fool?"

"And!" If glares could kill... Thibault was sure he would have been toast by now. But before he could say anything, Macao carried on. "WE have barely been able to secure any jobs this month! If a certain guild would stop taking them all we would be able to pay you on time all the time!"

It had felt good for him to rid himself of that frustration. It had been building up for years and he wasn't to sure how he was going to keep it all inside if he didn't just release it all right then. Mavis knew that these assholes deserved it.

But then the anger died down, and his rationality came back. Remembering what he had just said to Thibault and his group- he paled and looked up shakily. Peering at the young man before him.

And boy, he didn't look to pleased with him…

Silence overtook the guild, fear restricting everybody like a snake that kept them from intervening or rebelling against their tax collecting masters.

Suddenly, shooting up from the ground came Thibault's large boot-clad foot which struck Macao directly in the face, sending him tumbling to the cracked floor with a groan of pain, an angry red mark appearing on his weathered face as he held his face in his hand with a wince.

"You wanna disrespect me again Conbolt? At least your son can actually stand on his own two feet when defying my word." He sneered, glaring at the fire mage with disgust. "You really are a failure."

"Hey, leave my dad alone!"

Speaking of his son…

Although he was sure he saw several members behind Thibault take a few steps back, that made him smirk a little, his son was finally coming into his own, truly like his idol before him. He only wished he could stand by his son's side, helping and even guiding him instead of being the damn damsel.

Nevertheless, watching two of the members behind Thibault get knocked back onto their ass when they tried to beat Romeo up took away any self-loathing he held for himself for the moment.

"You again kid? You're getting way too predictable." Thibault sighed, as if the kid before him wasn't worth a second of his valuable time.

Romeo snarled, righteous anger clear on his young face. Not even bothering to reply he set him arms in front of him.

"Fire wall!" He yelled, his hands igniting in a brilliant purple flame that had power rolling off of it in waves, before throwing both hands out to his sides, the fire following and spewing from his palms, landing on the floor in front of him and suddenly erupting into an 8ft tall wall of fire.

Romeo didn't even crack a grin as he watched Thibault jump back and away from his fire, not giving the guy the time to react- he instantly moved into his next position, arms crossed with his hands close together.

"Jet Stream!" He watched as Thibault's men came after him, barely making it past his fire-wall before being utterly blown back into the wall by the sudden burst of Red hot fiery jets of fire. Romeo closed the two streams in towards each other, causing Thibualt to jump out of the line of fire.

"I've beaten your guys! Now go away and leave us alone!" He warned, his voice laced with venom. Clear hatred coursing through it with so much potency Thibault wondered how such a young child could hold such dark emotions.

But he was in a state of trepidation override, something was warning him, as if his gut had come to life to plead with him. He didn't know why but something just told him that continuing this fight was a bad idea, a really really bad idea.

But he ignored it, swallowing his fear, his pride shining through once again- and with a snarl of annoyance, he pointed his spiked club at Romeo. His dark eyes boring into the young child's own, as if both were trying to overcome the other in willpower.

But of course, soon enough Thibault growled and started firing up his weapon, a bright light shining from the tip of it. Looking at the boy with a clear hatred that easily outclassed Romeo's.

"Say goodbye boy!" He yelled, his patience finally broken. His weapon at it's peak point of firepower.

And within seconds, his body was sent flying into the air, over Romeo, over his father, over Wakaba and over the rest of the guild until he hit the floor with a loud 'Thud'. Clearly unconscious.

The guild stood, shocked at the sudden development. At one moment, they were watching what seemed to be Romeo's defeat at the hands of Thibault, the next, they were watching his form land on the ground behind them all, utterly defeated and unconscious beyond belief.

But a single voice caught their attention…

"Who was that bastard?" A familiar voice snarled. Fury leaking through like a broken drainage.

They all looked back, seeing a face that they thought they'd never see again. Behind him, more familiar faces, and behind them even more.

Romeo looked at his saviour with awe, tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he looked at the one who had beaten the bastard from Twilight Ogre.

"Natsu..." He whispered.

The S-Class team had finally returned…

::-()-::

Okay, that was difficult to write.

I have been nocturnal for the last week or so, I don't know why I just seem to become a night creature in the holiday's. I guess that as I don't have any form of normal event of education during the summer holidays to go to, my body decides to hibernate early. XD

#SomethingAboutBodyHumour

Anyway, hows life treating you all? Mine is as mundane as ever. XD Besides ranting and fuming about the ending to Fairy Tail.

I knew it was going to be bad but fucking hell, I still can't stop talking about how awful this ending was.

Anyway, thanks for reading and stay cool plz,

-Viperhat


	5. Reconciliation: Part 1

So, this is the 'Reconciliation: Arc' and this (yet another) mini-arc focuses on the interactions between the Tenrou Mages and the non-Tenrou Mages and how they help each other with the problems both sides face. :D

Hopefully I don't fuck this arc up.

Also, I forgot to mention but I have recently wrote down all of the stories that I will be doing in the future, such as main stories and side stories. If you are interested then feel free to check them out on my author-home page. I hope you find something on there that you like or look forward too.

::-()-::

"Natsu..." Romeo whispered, staring at the pink haired mage as if he were but a simple ghost, or maybe his imagination playing a cruel joke on him.

He couldn't help but not care though, he looked at his idol, looking no older than the day he disappeared, as did everyone else. Natsu had continued to look at the crumpled form of Thibault, a glimpse of rage seemed to glint in his eyes but it was so fast that Romeo could barely tell if he had even seen it at all.

But he had to have seen something! If anything this proved that he was real, he was unable to come up with such an elaborate imagination of his idol. He wasn't the most creative person in the world either.

Suddenly, Natsu snapped his gaze towards him, staring at him and seemingly into his soul for a while before grinning a massive grin and waving at him.

"Hey Romeo, we're home!" He exclaimed. Completely forgetting about Thibault as he took in all of the teary-eyed faces of his friends. The sight was enough to make him lose his grin as he frowned at everything within the guild.

The place looked awful, cracks in the walls, moss coating a certain corner of the room, webs visible from the ceiling and a general dirty smell that almost overpowered his nostrils. His beloved guild had really taken a bad turn, what had happened was beyond him, but he was going to find out!

But first he had to sort himself out, he could only keep smiling for so long, he needed to ask questions, answer question, celebrate and quickly get out before he broke down. He felt like he was tearing himself apart mentally and emotionally and he couldn't figure out why.

He couldn't think right, not now, not when he had just been saved by the guy who he had hated with a passion for some time now. What was he supposed to think?

"We can see that, and we are so thankful." Macao's choked voice broke him out of his stupor, he looked at the aged man and he couldn't help but feel awful. In a way, he and the others had caused this, the depression that hung around the guild was palpable yet the tension was slowly ebbing away as he and the others all entered the guild and sat down.

There were tears, lots of tears. But there were also laughs, sounds that seemed almost foreign to the new members he barely recognized as his friends now. It was almost like their bodies had been so emotionally bankrupt that they had forgotten how to how happy of at least positive any more.

That truly broke the Dragon Slayers heart to see…

Makarov explained to the group what had gone down during the day that they disappeared. He talked about Grimore Heart, Hades, the, cancellation of the S-Class trials this year and of course, he mentioned the dragon that had utterly destroyed the island in its attack.

Gildarts took over for that part, a fearful, faraway look in his eyes as he told everyone about Achnologia, and how it was the dragon the had claimed his limbs all those years ago. The mere fact that Gildarts held such mind numbing fear of the creature sent shivers down Natsu's spine, he remembered Gramps trying to take that beast down.

If it wasn't for Gray and himself, he may have not been here today…

"H-How did you all… survive all of that?" Wakaba asked, stuttering slightly over the frighteningly sorrowful revelation of Achnologia. "I mean, I barely remember that eye-patch guy, all I remember of him is him leaving the guild and never returning, and this Achnologia… Enough said..."

"We were not completely on our own." Erza spoke up, giving the group a small smile as she decided on what to say next.

"What do you mean Erza?" Laki tilted her head, confused as to what she could be getting at.

"We didn't take out all of the Grimore Heart Mages. Gray and his partner had taken out two or three before we met them. He even helped us take out Hades himself." Erza looked around to gauge the reactions. Suffice it to say she wasn't disappointed. At the mention of his name several eyes shot up in bewilderment. Some had fear whilst others still held some slight anger.

They hadn't seen Gray during that time, they didn't know…

She half expected to hear Natsu or Elfman speak up in outrage or offer some bitter remark. But when she looked at him she grew suspicious. Natsu caught her gaze and looked away, almost as if he were ashamed of himself, a strikingly different change to how he had been reacting to his old frienemies name.

' _What's going on with him?'_ Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. But before she could pry, the question was asked for her.

"Well, where is he now?" Romeo looked around, but didn't see the Ice-Mage anywhere.

Natsu looked away again…

Erza caught the reaction again, he had to be hiding something! But if she wanted an answer (as everyone else did) she would have to spill what went down.

"I believe the last person to see him was Natsu, he got stuck in a rock and was injured. Gray said to get going as he rescued Natsu."

Natsu really wished he could strangle Erza right now…

All eyes however, despite his wishes, turned onto him, waiting for him to spill the beans.

"Well?" Makarov urged.

He couldn't say it, he hated the bastard, but he didn't want to think of him as dead, it felt too real, and for some reason, the thought made him feel physically sick.

"Natsu?..." Mirajane gently encouraged. "What happened to him?"

She sounded so worried for the evil bastard. He couldn't say it, he wouldn't say it! No one here could make him!

"Natsu, answer." Erza ordered, her voice raised ever so slightly. But looking at her he could also see that familiar tinge of fear in her eyes. "Where's Gray."

He couldn't hold it back, not to her, he couldn't lie to his team-mate.

"He's dead..." He mumbled, a tear prickling from his eye. His voice so small and quiet that he barely heard it himself.

"What was that?" Erza implored.

"He's dead!" He yelled, his angry and sorrowful voice echoing through a now silent Guildhall.

He looked around, scanning the room for the faces. He felt himself die a little when he saw some of those faces start to tear up, their eyes ignite with anger, sadness and shock. This was what his arrogance and pettiness got him.

If he could take back that one attack, he would have done it in a heartbeat. No matter how much Gray deserved it, which he most likely did. He didn't deserve to die that way...

"What?" Mirajane whispered, her eyes already filling up with tears as she sat frozen on her chair.

"His wounds had re-opened, he was bleeding everywhere and he was barely able to get me out of that damned rock. Before I knew anything he was trying to get us out of the dragons area before he killed us, but his body was failing him! He then decided to be a stupid bastard and throw me out of the way before losing all strength! He was hit full on by that bastard dragons attack! He killed him! That dragon killed him!"

He hadn't realised it at the time, but he had raised his voice, screaming before he could stop himself. It was no use now, the floodgates had opened and now his emotions were being put on display.

' _Damn you Erza… Why couldn't you have just left it alone?!'_ He internally raged, trying to sort his emotions out. But he couldn't. He was so confused but numb at the same time, as if his body had burned out any emotional reaction he could have had and all that was left was nothing but mere embers of what used to be his emotional stability.

Natsu's outburst sent shock-waves through the guild, stunning the crowd into silence. It was like someone had flipped a switch because everyone had gone from tremendous joy and celebration to a crushing state of depression within mere seconds.

Even Elfman stared at Natsu with wide eyes…

' _That traitor… saved Natsu?'_ His thoughts raced around in his mind as if it were a grand prix. Never did he think he'd hear of Gray doing another kind or selfless act again. Not after what he had done. But as he looked into the Dragon Slayers eyes, all he saw was that familiar dullness and defeat clouding them. Unlike the fire and passion that once were in those eyes, it was like Natsu had been drained or had suppressed it himself.

"You're lying..." Erza's soft lilt shook everyone out of their revere. Her face one of light scorn and heavy anger. "I know you are."

Those words were said with such conviction. It almost made Natsu laugh at how stubborn she was. However, calling him a liar was uncalled for, his gaze locked on to her own as a growl escaped from his throat. No matter how tough and scary Erza could be, he wasn't going to back down from her on this, he knew what he had seen, Erza hadn't even been there.

Who was she to tell him what he had seen? As if denying reality was needed right now.

"I'm not lying Erza! I know what I saw!" He screamed. All of his turmoil laced into his words.

The guild went silent…

Erza was never one to back down from a challenge, especially one where her friends were involved, and hearing Natsu, the guy who had been troubling everyone with his odd hatred of his former rival didn't ring of endorsement when it came to his reliability on this subject.

"Don't lie to me Natsu!" She yelled back, her eyes seemingly burning as she stood up from her seat. "You and I both know that Gray is stronger than that! He surely had a plan of some sort!"

"What would you know huh? You weren't even there!" Natsu raged on back, shooting to his feet like Erza as he levelled her with a harsh glare. "Don't tell me what I saw when you don't even know what went down!"

"You hate Gray! Why should we trust you to even give us the truth on this when you can't even put aside your petty hatred when everyone's lives are in danger!" Erza bit back, determined to squeeze the truth out of him. Without her realising, her eyes had watered up and were on the verge of overspilling when Mirajane's broken voice cut in.

"Please, Erza… No more… Not today." Mira pleaded, looking straight into her very soul with those damn expressive eyes of hers. It was like she knew exactly what had to be said or done to defuse the situation!

"But – But Nats-"

"PLEASE!" She wailed, covering her eyes in a vain attempt to stop the tears rolling down her cheeks. "You were close to Gray, we get it! But please stop! We can't take any more of this right now!"

Erza growled, ready with a harsh retort, but her eyes caught the faces of her comrades. Some were somewhat downcast but not too upset, but what truly choked up her reply were the faces of Levy, Juvia, Master, Lucy and a select few. She had believed that she had seen the faces of true despair before, but as she looked into her friends faces and caught sight of the shimmering surface of moisture around their eyes anything she could've described as despair was now dwarfed by its new replacement.

Looking back at Natsu, she also caught the sight of his face for the first time since they had got back. Her entire body froze when she could see the faint glimmer of tears starting to stain his face too.

' _N-No, he has to be lying...'_ She took a step back, keeping her sights on Natsu before finally spinning around and fleeing from the guild hall with the speed to seemingly match Racer.

' _He has to be damn lying!'_

::-()-::

"Nulpudding?" Ivan drawled, not bothering to look as the purple man swaggered through the door. Giving him the usual wide grin as he waited for the master to speak up.

"What is it, boss?"

"How is our long awaited guest? I didn't get the chance to see him when you got him inside." He asked, raising an eyebrow as he waited for the answer. Although when he watched Nulpudding wince he had a rather bad feeling wash over him.

"I'm gonna be blunt, boss. It ain't to good." Nulpudding sighed, shaking his head, as if trying to rid himself of the grotesque sight he had seen.

"How bad is he?"

"Whatever had hit him damaged him real good, aside from the heavy bruising and the stab wounds around his stomach which look painful enough, something had hit hit with the force of an earthquake, several broken bones, of which being his ribs, a collarbone, his shin and ankle."

Ivan had to wince, or he'd shiver in disgust. It did sound rather painful, but he'd rather not see the boy himself. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, but it is the worst bit of news I have for ya, boss."The purple man replied. "You see, whatever hit him not only destroyed his bones… But… uhh..."

' _How odd, isn't like Nulpudding to stumble with his speech..._ ' Ivan finally turned around, revealing the long black beard he'd let brow. "But what…?"

"Gray has uhhh, lost his right arm, boss."

Ivan Balked…

::-()-::

A slow start to yet another slow mini-arc. Sorry guys.

College is just around the corner and I have been trying to sort out my sleeping pattern, you see I have been up all night for the past two weeks and it is really fucking with my social life as well as my productivity. XD

I am a vampire at heart, I am sorry you had to hear about it this way. Lol

Anyway, as college is starting again soon, you can expect these chapters to take a little longer, although I will try to not make them take this long in the future.

Thanks for reading bruh.

-Viperhat


	6. Reconciliation: Part 2

Back again…

Okay, I admit, I don't know how I can make this arc go by smoothly. XD This chapter focusses on Gray's recovery overall and of course, we all know how much a tend to botch these kind of scenes up. But I will try my best as per usual.

LET'S READ!

::-()-::

' _Where am I?'_ He thought groggily, like he was extremely tired. But that couldn't be it. It just couldn't. He remembered feeling very much awake the last time he was conscious. The situation kind of required it of him. But what had happened before he fell asleep?

He certainly didn't feel comfortable back then. He distinctly remembered the pain around his stomach, the fatigue in his arms and legs, the fuzziness that buzzed around in his head. He remembered it all, it was all unpleasant to say the least, but it was what he remembered and he wasn't about to deny reality to make himself feel better.

But why couldn't he just wake up?

That was when he felt it, a soft fabric-like material was gently laid across his face, covering only his eyes and forehead, his startlingly soft hair made it impossible to tell where the material ended but he didn't particularly care. The silky material was blocking his vision and he needed to see where he was.

Judging by the soft mattress beneath him, it was plausible that he was in the hospital. But knowing the things he had experienced it wasn't entirely guaranteed. The only way he could tell where he was, was by ripping the damn cloth off of his head and just looking around.

' _Fuck it, what have I to lose? I'm probably dead and this just the weird afterlife… After being hit by that abomination, I wouldn't be surprised...'_ The irritation was growing by every second that cloth restricted and sooner rather than later felt more appealing to Gray rather than waiting for someone to tear it off for him. Anyway, he didn't feel anything keeping him on the bed.

He slowly and apprehensively lifted his arm to confirm that… Feeling like something was wrong was the first thought that came to mind, however he felt like celebrating for the small victory once he felt his left arm jerk upward slightly. Gray took advantage of the situation, quickly shooting his hand up and feeling for the fabric on his face. As soon as he felt it, his hand gripped the cloth, ripping it off of his face and quickly, the light blazed its way into his vision, making him squint harshly as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.

Looking around after, Gray calmed down as he recognised the place he was in.

He was in Raven Tail, the medical wing of Raven Tail to be exact. The rocky walls and cool light shone in welcoming it seemed, although Raven Tail was anything but that from his experience. But right now, all that mattered was that he wasn't dead, he was alive, he wasn't in danger, he was safe.

But that feeling was still in the back of his mind, no matter what he could see. Something still felt wrong, missing even. Gray couldn't wrap his head around it but it wasn't pleasant. His brow creased and his body tensed, wincing from the dull pain he scoured the surrounding area in hopes of locating the source of discomfort as quickly as humanly possible. But all he was met with were the disjointed, dark rock walls and the bedside cabinet that resided to his right.

His breath quickened a little, he still felt wrong. Really wrong and he still had no explanation for it. In a desperate attempt, he gave the room one last look, hoping against hope that he would finally pinpoint his problem.

He shifted uncomfortably, however he suddenly lost balance when moving to his right. It felt like he had no support from the right side of his body and it was only then when Gray realised one thing. It scared him but it was unavoidable once he had grasped it.

He couldn't feel his arm, his right arm felt numb, like it was asleep but without the odd static feeling of pins & needles engulfing the entire appendage. The realisation came crashing down on Gray like a tonne of bricks.

The arm was still covered by the thick blanket, annoyingly, the knowledge only added trepidation to the Ice Mage's whirling emotional state. He would have to remove the cover, and it seemed his arm was not going to get the job done.

Grumbling a little, Gray slowly lifted his good arm over to the blanket and grasped it firmly. He wasn't ready for anything bad, he'd only just woken up. But he had to see why the feeling of wrongness still wasn't gone. He had to lift the damn blanket.

Taking in a deep breathe, Gray ripped off the blanket…

And he stared…

That was all he was capable of any more…

::-()-::

(5 minutes earlier)

"How do I work with him now..." Ivan muttered, pacing none stop in his office. Frustrated scowls came and went from his face and he tried to ponder how he was supposed to find a use the damn Devil Slayer now.

"He was my ace in the hole, now he is going to be much less useful to me now. The damn fool, he should have left Flare behind if he had to leave one them in the first place." A deep, angry wrinkle forced its way onto his forehead as he scrunched his face up. How could Gray have been so stupid?!

All of that potential was lost… All that remained was a one armed bandit. Good, but would never compete.

He looked over the balcony to where his guild-members were all milling around. Obra was as silent as ever, Nulpudding was busy smashing training dummies in the gym and Kuroheibi was skulking around, near the infirmary.

As usual, Flare was nowhere to be found…

Ever since she had turned in that jewel to the mayor, she had moved out of the guild and hadn't told them where her new place was. Making life much harder for Ivan, needing her for if Gray were to ever return he could use her to use him to more effectiveness.

He liked Gray, the kid had massive potential to do extremely well and the potion may have left out some viable traits of side-effects of the Devil Slaying Magic. He also had a drive that was almost as strong as his own, not to mention the fact that he was fairly intelligent too. But the kid was too much of a wild card and Ivan had never been a fan of surprises.

He just didn't want to lose his best warrior, no matter how much the boy was damaged now… He wasn't a heartless bastard, just extremely picky with who he chose to slightly care for…

And Gray as well as to a much lesser extent Nulpudding were the only ones had had some form of appreciation for. Nulpudding for being a terrific right-hand man and Gray for bringing Raven Tail to greatness sooner than he could imagine.

"Enough..." He said to himself before whirling around to face his guild.

"Listen up, all of you!" The guild reacted right away to the sound of his voice. Making him smirk a little. "I tire of your presence and in 2 minutes you will have the opportunity to take a job as usual. Now you will pick a job and get out of my sight for a while."

Of course, his loyal guild listened intently, and quicker than usual, they rushed to the mission board and lined up, ready for the mission when they could acquire one. Nulpudding took a mission to take down a few criminals. Kuroheibi obviously went with a violent and viscous mission, killing a bunch of predators in the mountains of Minstrel.

Obra just walked out of the guild for a vacation…

' _Finally, some peace for a while...'_ Ivan left the balcony, satisfied with his order. "Now Gray needs to wake up and things should go along smoothly."

::-()-::

She was running a little dry on jewel. Flare knew it, and she wasn't looking forward to going back to the guild to take a job.

Hopefully, the members were gone. Flare didn't particularly care for the sinister smiles from Kuroheibi, or the Soul breaking stares from Nulpudding. Obra was just weird and not very social and Ivan just didn't like her that much anymore…

She understood though…

She couldn't stop thinking about that day anyway… That desperate hope welling up in her chest during the few hours that followed, only for them to be dashed the very instant she woke up the next day. Hearing the news of Tenrou's disappearance and with it, the S-Class hopefuls of Fairy Tail. She remembered only blankly going through her day, only ever muttering 'Oh, that's awful.' once. It was only when a random villager in the town informed her that she was crying did it start to sink in…

Denial was strong within that first week of realisation, she remembered how she'd ignore the guilds harsh reality checks, glaring at them all, including Ivan as she remarked about how Gray would come through the doors any day. Even going as far as to buy the cottage that Gray had been saving for her. Of course, the mission had been more than enough for the place and she wanted it to be perfect for when Gray got there.

But he never came…

That reality was dumped on her like a sack of bricks a month later. Once it was clear to her that her only friend in the entire world had been dead for a while all she could do was brake down, it was like her body had been willing to do nothing else but fall to pieces, curl up into a ball and tremble and heavy sobs would rack her body over and over again.

Anger swiftly took over for a moment, as she felt a huge burst of rage driven energy overwhelm her. Her mind cast back to when all that she could think about was what she could destroy, as if breaking everything and causing havoc would force her friend to come back and berate her for her ungratefulness…

But when she calmed down and looked around, she wailed… The furniture was broken and the pictures damaged. Gray wanted her to have this place and what she had done was worse than killing him herself, it was as if she had spat on his grave...

Bargaining was fruitless, even after trying to find the darkest of spells and rituals, everything was useless. Flare shuddered… remembering even turning to praying like a lost soul as she rambled on and on about how Gray was, why he needed to be brought back, even debating the non-existent entity that Gray was worth bringing back, all whilst being barely coherent in the slightest.

It was all pointless…

After so many painful nights and torturous days, Flare just couldn't take it, she never moved on from Gray, what he had represented to her and what he had done for her. She could not think about him at times, her mind lashing out against her when she even lightly brushed upon his memory.

She had everything that the world's common people desired, a nice house, power and beauty. But she knew that if she could trade it all in for Gray, it would have taken her less that a millisecond to accept that trade. The world was an awful grey plain to her without him, despite his namesake, he was the one that gave this world meaning.

The young woman sighed harshly, trying to rid herself of those thoughts. It was hard enough to go to Raven Tail, let alone remain stoic…

"Please, don't let anyone be inside..." She murmured softly. Hoping against hope that she would be alone as she slowly opened the grand stone door that lead to the inside of the mountain carved guildhall…

The light seeped in, casting harsh shadows all over the walls and floor. Flare looked around, not particularly caring for the contrasting miasma of black and grey. But looking around, she noticed something odd, not too odd, but enough to make her focus…

The medical area was open, and there was a noise coming from within. Flare didn't know if anyone from the guild had ever went in there voluntarily, but it was rare to see someone enter nonetheless. Unless an injury had been dealt the members, including the master tried to stay away from ending up in there.

There a sound of rustling and movement, faint but enough to be heard in utter silence. Of course, despite her depression, she still had the sense to stay wary. But of course, if someone was in the medbay, there was going to be a reason.

There always was with this place…

Also, she couldn't understand why, but something was… tugging her towards the room. As if she needed to see the contents of the room desperately, and before she knew it, she was quietly making her way to the room, her gaze shifting into focus as she neared the doorway.

Trepidation was a strong feeling as of now. Her nerves were shot from the pain of everything, but they seemed to react to the emotion she was displaying. She was scared, scared that she'd catch something or someone that/who was not suppose to be here. She wasn't in the right state of mind, she'd end up dead or killing someone if there was a bad guy in there.

But she pressed on…

Finally, she reached the door, the sound of movement much more clearer, someone was in there.

She was already close, she may as well see who it is and go and pick her damn job already…

So she peaked her head around the corner.

And froze…

::-()-::

Cliffhanger!

:D

I am a dick, yes. But still, next chapter will see a scene that has been catered to specialising in feels. So ready your tear ducts for the next chapter my bretheran!

I really need to get a life…

Anyway, a quick call-back because why not?

TRIVIA TIME!

1: What has been the sassy-est(?) thing you have ever said to someone?

My friend was going on and on about something that none of my friends nor myself really cared for. So when he starts speaking again, I lay my hand on his shoulder and say to him. "Listen, do you hear that sound? That is the sound of no one giving a flying fuck…"

I am an asshole in real life. Not my best line but one I remember the best.

2: If you go to college, did you have a good first day back?

Meh, the tutor is a grade-A cunt. Pissed me off and had to be around someone I really dislike, but had fun mostly with friends and lifting were highlights.

That and my girlfriend existing of course. :D

3: Do you think the Alvarez arc will be a little better in anime form?

I mean, Mashima has added pieces into the canon that he didn't have time or room for in the manga and even changed things. I mean, he doesn't always make a good changes (Laxus Vs. Tempesta rings a bell), but anything better than what the manga holds is an improvement right?

Anyway, thanks for reading, this will be posted late tonight, as I only got back from college.

-Viperhat


	7. Reconciliation: Part 3

Life is depressing… So lets write something!

LET'S READ!

::-()-::

She always ended up here, fucking always…

The gentle stream passed by Erza as she gazed into the distorted reflection, only seeing her features stare right back. The waters wavy surface broke and bended her face and the world around her, like it was a fun-house mirror. She couldn't tell if she hated it or cherished it though.

On one side, the water ruined the outside world, herself included. Twisting it into a cruel and collapsing miasma of colours and shapes. Yet, the water felt as if it was showing her true self, the real identity of herself and the world she inhabits, it was evil and vile…

But she appreciated it…

No matter the wrongness of it, she could see the world for what it was. A terrible place, filled with crimes, greed and hatred. But it was also a beautiful place filled with the pride, care and love that could only be inspiring. No matter what she wished she could see, the river always set her views straight again, and with some self reflection and hard thinking, Erza believed that she could overcome anything obstacle her mind forged…

But she sat here now, trying to recreate previous successes with no progress of any kind. It was like something was preventing the proverbial machine from doing its job. Erza knew what was missing, or whom…

He needed to be here, to fully complete the puzzle, to give her the hope and outcome she desired so badly. Natsu's words rang out heavily within her mind, torturing her silently, like a slow acting poison hat she had no clue of until now. She hated that fact, she wanted to believe that Natsu was lying, that he was trying to just distort her and everyone else's reality to make himself happier. After everything he had said and tried to do to his rival over the past few months it wasn't hard to believe it, but Natsu was not an actor and couldn't make himself cry, nor could he muster up the skill to look like he was about to break down.

Erza new Natsu, many years of fighting and laughing brought her many an opportunity to understand and react to his certain eccentricities and personality traits. Namely; his love for brawling. This outburst wasn't fake, he hated Gray with a passion so he wouldn't dare get upset with his passing, she remembered how he acted when Jellal was mentioned around him after the tower of heaven. He wasn't going to spare tears over someone he hated, and Natsu could hate, he was certainly capable of hating.

And Natsu seemed genuinely sad…

And Erza didn't know why that scared her more than the alternative.

::-()-::

Natsu trudged home…

His mind blanked as he tried to comprehend the days excursions, everything felt out of place and seemingly out of a terrible story book Igneel used to 'try' and read to him. The entire day had been a nightmare to him and it was definitely up there as one of the worst things to ever happen to him. Missing seven years of his life because of a psychopathic dragon hit many hard, their friends at the guild. Cana and Lisanna were two examples, sitting and listening on with glazed eyes as they tried to understand everything going on was difficult.

Lucy took it rather well to her credit. Although she wasn't stable after hearing what happened to Gray.

' _That stupid ice bastard….'_ His mind brooded constantly, reflecting on what he could have done to avoid this entire situation, to avoid the death of Gray. Try as he might, Natsu just couldn't batter the thoughts away, leaving him con-fuddled and in grief, he wanted to hurt Gray for what he had done to him, to his friends. He wanted to watch him suffer for such heinous crimes.

He was manipulative and cruel to him, using Igneel as a bait to drive him to that blasted dragon robot. He beat him around and tried to hurt him, he deserved the punishment he got, surely.

But no matter what, his conscience still dully thudded in pain, like it had lost someone important to him. Did he 'truly' want Gray to suffer like he did? Did he truly want to watch him get erased from the world? Was Lucy and her group really that stupid for trying to confront Gray in the first place with sympathy?

"This is so confusing… Fuck you, Gray… I-I Hate… I..." He spat, mustering all the hatred he had, but only finding a crushing depression that surprised him. He was unable to fully say those words any more. He had been able to before, easily, no guilt or emotional turmoil. But now it was impossible…

How Gray acted back then, risking life and limb, even finally sacrificing them in the end to save the one who had caused him plenty of grief struck a chord, a chord that would no longer leave him alone.

"Godammit Gray… Were you evil…. OR NOT!?"

He never got an answer…

And even when he was walking home, he found himself scared…

Scared that he realised one thing…

He wished that he had got one…

::-()-::

(Raven Tail)

"My arm..." His whispers were robotic, as if he were no longer capable of emoting. All he could do was stare at the massive stump were his entire arm used to be. Severed off from the shoulder, not even a little piece of it left to wriggle and squirm with.

It was like it never existed…

Gray's breathes quickened, growing to an obvious volume to which anyone could hear if they stepped into the infirmary. He was so unaware of anything that he didn't even realise that he was crying, the only hint he got was when he felt his cheeks moisten quickly.

It felt like his sight was locked onto the grim picture before him, no arm, not even a shoulder. All he had was the abrupt end of his upper trap muscle and that was it. It was horrible. How could he use Ur's magic now? He could cast with one hand, that was spitting in her face at best and would be little more than a stain to her great name…

"No…. No, no...Please be a dream…!" His cracked voice broke him out of his trance, looking around the room in hopes that the sudden stimuli would wake him up from the nightmare he was experiencing. Unfortunately, nothing worked, this was real, he was forever going to be crippled and near useless to the guild…

He wouldn't be able to protect anyone with such a pathetic weakness, at most he'd be canon fodder, used to be thrown away and never used unless for training… How could he train properly any-more either? He always used magic that required both hands to fully utilise, now he had one and his good one was obliterated!

Suddenly, he heard the door creak open, and all of his body froze as he turned around to face the intruder. Was it Ivan? Come to dismiss him from the guild? Nulpudding, come to do the same thing but with the added slap of Ivan not being bothered to do it himself?

He suddenly didn't want to look towards the figure, but it was too late…

There she stood, similar but noticeably different. Now standing taller, her figure fuller and shapely, her hair now reaching her lower back and her face much more mature. It was then that Gray only began to think about how long he'd been knocked out. This was not the energetic yet insecure girl he knew back on Tenrou and beforehand. She had grown, she looked to be at least 20 years of age now, and the way her eyes were widened to their limits only gave him more worry.

"Flare..."

It was like a triggered switch, as soon as he uttered her name she was already bounding towards him, tears leaking from her eyes as a look of relief, fear and trepidation took control all at once. Her body colliding with his, knocking him off of his comfy bed and onto the hard floor as Flare's arms wrapped tightly around his waist, as if she was terrified he'd turn to dust in her arms if she let up even by a slight bit.

Suddenly, Gray's worry left him, all his focus diverted to the trembling woman before him…

"Flare..." He croaked…

She didn't move, the only sign of hearing him was given when tensed. Her nails slightly digging into his back as he tried to remove her from him, but ultimately his handicap proved to be to crippling for any sort of physical removal.

Curse that fucking dragon…

"Please, it hurts..." He struggled… It really did hurt, his back felt like it was being torn apart due to those deadly nails Flare now possessed.

It did the job however, Flare's tense form suddenly leaped off of him as if she had murdered him. As if she'd just struck him.

"I'm sorry, i'm sorry!" She stuttered, tears still pouring from her eyes as she fought to keep herself from going near him. "I didn't mean, I didn't, i'm sorry!"

It was going to be a long day it seemed… Gray really didn't want to see her like this, she didn't deserve it, but he needed to know what was happening, what was going on. Why was she older looking? Where was Master Ivan?

"It's fine… It doesn't hurt." It was a lie, damn it, Flare really needed to cut those monsters… "I'm fine."

She didn't respond, but her body relaxed after that. It relieved any tension that could have spawned before it had done anything to either of them. All Gray could focus on was stopping the tear-fest going on.

But from the looks of it, Flare wouldn't be stopping anytime soon…

He sighed…

Getting up slowly and with great strain, he started limping his way to the Hair Mage, he frightened eyes watching him closely, as if he would collapse at any moment. Though to be fair to her, he did buckle a few times on the way up… Maybe she had gained a sixth sense?

Suddenly, he felt himself falling forward, the unfamiliar lack of weight of his side causing him to redistribute himself all over the place. He saw the floor racing towards him and he immediately wanted to slap himself upside the head. Had his sense of balance all of a sudden left his body during his lengthy nap?

"Gray!" Flare rushed forward, trying to hook her arms under his armpit and stomach. Her mind focussed on keeping the weakened mage off of the floor as she tried to hold his weight. Her mind recalled the Ice Mage's weight to be much heavier when she was younger, she had prepared for the sudden force pulling her down with him, but as she caught him and slowed his decent to a halt, she found herself startled at how easy it was for her to keep him from falling…

It was like he was lighter than a feather…

"You've… gotten stronger…" Gray whispered, a small smile lighting his strained face up as he let out a tiny chuckle, a weak raspy chuckle. "I'm glad… Nice work."

She let out a choked laugh, as if she hadn't done such a thing in years.

"You've just gotten lighter..."

Gray sighed at that, a content, relaxed exhale later and he was lifting his head up to look at her. Trying to get a clear view of his partner.

"You've grown up… A lot..." He admitted, feeling her chest against his collarbone as he tried to give her some breathing room after his spill. He hated feeling this weak, needing someone to help him at their expense… He became a mage to avoid that specific fear, it was a fear… At least, that's what he thought.

"Thank you for noticing..." Flare tearfully smiled at the compliment. It was then however that Gray realised that her voice no longer sounded so raspy or creepy, it lilted and bounced softly around his ears. It was much more softer but clearer too. It was an improvement at least.

Finally, after what felt like forever in her arms, Gray felt his strength return to him. Slowly, he struggled back up and onto his feet and made his way to the bed once more. Looking at his stump and sighing in resignation…

Flare, however, noticed…

"That won't change anything..." She stared at him hard. Her eyes now stern but overly emotional. "You can still fight, you can still become strong again, you just need people you trust to give you that push… If you would let me I would be happy to help."

Gray looked at her and back to his arm. It was a very heart-warming speech Flare had gave, he knew that she would do anything to help him in that moment.

"You have given me so much, even though you weren't even around for more than a few months. You gave me hope, you gave me happiness, you gave me many things that I had never had the chance to feel since I was a Raven tail Mage."

She was outright crying now… Gray winced, he hated the female water works.

"You gave me life… Life that felt worth it, all of the pain, the isolation, the evil… It was all made worth it… So if you need my help I will forever be at your side to provide that to you… It is the very least I can do… Thank you..."

And that was that, Gray stared and she stared back. Eye to eye, emotions on display and one big promise that was forever en-woven from then on and forever more…

Gray Lazily smirked, despite his fears and despite his inner voice bringing him down, He spoke…

"Huh, thanks… I will take you up on that offer."

::-()-::

This took some time to get out. Sorry. College the whole she-bang. And recently I have been emotionally fucked up due to an incident involving me and a friend of mine. Sorry, it just took all of my drive away and I have been getting this chapter done in chunks…

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Sorry for the late chapter (again).

See you next time,

-Viperhat


	8. Reconciliation: Part 4

Pa pa pa pa pa… Play it!

God, I fucking hate Leafy.

::-()-::

(1 hour later)

"How are you feeling, Gray?"

Ivan asked, not looking up from his desk as his old and first S-Class mage shakily took a seat in front of him. Even without looking up though, Ivan could feel the nerves spike within Gray's body. The damn kid was acting like he was going to get kicked out.

' _I guess I really am terrifying._ ' He thought, mentally chortling at the thought of the powerful Devil Slayer cowering before him. A few years ago, such a thought would have been deemed impossible for him to even accomplish.

But this new development…

Now that got him thinking. Gray clearly felt nervous being in his presence, rightfully so. Combined with losing an arm and a pint or two of blood may have also had some correlation to his current look and feel, but Ivan obviously had an affect on him right now, and he for the life of him wasn't going to let such an opportunity slide. After all, if Flare was no longer a plausible action, then the next best thing to do would be to wrangle in the boy himself.

"An answer of yes or no would suffice, Gray, but please do speak when spoken too." He drawled impatiently. The silence was aggravating at worst.

"Yes sir." Gray's blurted. His body quivering. God, Ivan could be terrifying if he wanted to be. But Gray never took him for the silent type when angry. In some ways, he was the polar opposite to Makarov, Who always showed his anger when he needed to and was always easy to approach otherwise.

"Hmm, of course you are..." Something in his tone caused Gray to freeze. He couldn't place his finger on it though, it could have been anger, but from what he knew he hadn't done anything wrong. Maybe it was disbelief, it would make sense, even Gray knew how fake the words sounded when they left his mouth, he sounded way to shaky. But even then, he only felt a bit dizzy, and that was most likely from being laid down for a long period of time.

Why did the Ivan have to be so damn vague?

"Anyway." Gray looked up when Ivan lost the undertone. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Gray. I am sure you are pleased to be back." He drawled, finally looking up from his paperwork. "Now that you are awake and 'mostly' conscious, I thought I would give you the current news of your situation, housing, medical, guild-wise, etc. And I will not sugar-coat anything for anyone, so do not expect different treatment because of your new condition."

For some reason, Gray only felt himself shiver more at the piercing gaze Ivan landed him after speaking. Those damn onyx pools promised nothing and let nothing but black escape from the mind that resided behind them.

"Okay." He responded quickly, fighting the pit in his stomach that was swelling. The longer this talk kept going, the more he felt in danger.

"No questions then? Good, i'm not in the mood to be answering them anyway." The guild master sighed. "Now, you remember your old guild dorm?" He got a quick but shallow nod in response. "Well, this will be the only good news for you, so hold it tightly. That is still available to you, no one has become a member since you. But if you have another place in mind then fine, go ahead. But you will _not_ receive any help from the guild with keeping yourself funded, fed and watered."

That didn't sound so bad… The jewel he had would probably cover for an apartment for a little while.

"Now, the bad news. Four years ago, your name finally lost any traction or influence it had. People no longer care, or recognise the name 'Absolute Zero'. I am sure you are really upset at the news."

He really didn't care…

"You will need to work more to get that name back to it's influential standard. But even with your cripple problem now, you should be able to do something about that, although I don't hold too much hope for that." Ivan turned away to look at a long row of weird artifacts behind him, sighing in what Gray could only determine to be disappointment. Although he didn't know why, but the thought stung just a little bit.

Surely he couldn't be that useless now? He did almost have a meltdown in the infirmary from the initial thoughts and feelings regarding such a reality, but he _had_ calmed down now. He had! With Flare promising him her help whenever, he could bring himself back, maybe even find a way around his newfound disability. Even then, without his arm, he bet he could take on the entirety of Raven tail and win. Ivan was up in the air, for he had never seen the guild master actually fight anyone, but the others he was guaranteed a victory!

"I will not let you down master." Gray growled, he was never a fan of be told he couldn't do something. Now was no different.

"That remains to be seen, my star student..." Ivan retorted calmly.

Student?…

"What do you mean by 'student'?..."

Rolling his eyes, Ivan spoke. "Did you hit your head when you lost your arm, boy?" His condescending tone made the Devil Slayer inwardly shrivel, god Ivan was scary now.

"You tell me, from my understanding I wasn't awake for a few years." Gray bit back, face creasing into a frown.

"Don't give me that tone boy, you are lucky I still keep you around." Ivan's tone left no room for anymore argument. But the promise in Ivan's eyes told Gray everything he needed to know.

Silence filled the room for a moment, not a single noteworthy sound made it into the ears of either mage. But it was fleeting at best, once again, Gray's ears were filled with the suddenly annoying sound of Ivan's gruff and tired voice.

"Okay." Ivan pinched at his nose, sighing. "We clearly aren't going to get far right now. For the time being, I putting this meeting on hold for a while, let you get accustomed to the world as it is now. Because right now, we clearly aren't going anywhere."

"Yes, master." Gray slowly bit out, weakly struggling out of his chair. He didn't know why, but he was slowly coming to dislike the guild master. He wasn't strong or sober enough to deal with this newfound lack of empathy within the man. Secondly, he wasn't one to go out of his way to judge people he didn't know very well, at least, not since his departure from Fairy Tail. But Ivan genuinely had the feeling of a dictator within the guild now, as if his word was no longer a suggestion, but an order. An order that was to be followed or else.

Shaking his head, he wondered if Ivan's change was due to his 'death' or due to something else, like another entity he was unaware of, or some form of necessity due to changing laws or hard times. He'd have to get Flare to catch him up on the latest and important changes within the guild later or so.

Right now, he just wanted to get some proper rest. Or waste away for a while…

Staring at his stump, he frowned in disgust, at his lack of flesh, at himself. How could he have let this happen to himself? Was he that stupid? He was a cripple now, no ifs or buts about it, no skirting around the fact. He was never going to be nearly as capable as he was again…

' _Maybe you're right Ivan…'_ He opened the door, putting the best brave face he could for Flare as he exited the masters office. _'Maybe I am weak now...'_

::-()-::

(2 Days Later)

"I am telling you Mirajane! Sundance is a magnificent festival!" Lisanna exclaimed, her excitement seemingly getting the best of her, making her older sister giggle. "Belroff City was huge and the people were really awesome! You should come with us at some point."

"Lisanna, I have a bar to tend to, you know." The Take-Over Mage lightly teased. "I am sure you remember that, also I don't feel like doing so at the moment. Maybe some other time."

She tried, she really did. But her mood was not improving at all. Not since she got back from the island. Everything was dull to her, all shades of a lifeless grey that gave her no joy and no pain. But it was an odd, comforting thing that helped her retain the seemingly cheery mask she put on for now. Although it had only been two days it was clear that this wasn't going to go away at any point in the future.

Gray didn't deserve his fate. And she felt dirty, like the guild had inadvertently committed a crime and now she was paying the invisible and insidious price for it.

It was not until Makarov told her that the guild was closing that she realised that her life was slowly going by without her knowledge now.

"I need to get a grip..." She muttered to herself. Looking out towards Fairy Hills, a forlorn feeling gripping her heart as she started making her way home.

Until an armour-clad hand stopped her in her tracks…

"Wha- E-Erza!" Mira yelped, turning to the right to see the Redhead standing beside her. Her eyes widening with shock as she saw the dishevelled appearance marring her beautiful features. Erza looked worse for ware, although it was easy as to why that was.

"Mirajane, I request your assistance on this mission." She 'requested'. Her voice straining to sound strong. It came out wrong to Mira, the voice was just too flat. However, it was clear that Erza was either not paying attention or simply didn't care as she crack-handedly pushed a request from the mission board into Mira's chest.

A small smile made its way onto the Demoness' face as she gave the job a once over.

 _:Bracksted City:_

 _Classification: S-Class_

 _Request Type: Combat, Retrieval_

 _Reward: 40.000 Jewels_

 _Equipment: User's choice_

 _Description:_

 _A group of scoundrel's have taken off into the great Faery Forests with a very special artifact that belongs to the Brookmyer lineage. The artifact in question is highly dangerous in the wrong hands and requires professional standard caution to handle. The group are armed and dangerous and have refused any method of bargaining the Mayor has offered to them. If you choose to partake in this job then your mission will be to locate and retrieve the artifact. As a bonus for apprehending the criminals, you will be given an additional 20.000 Jewels to the reward._

 _Please contact and arrange a meeting with the Mayor of Bracksted for the full debriefing._

 _Kind Regards,_

 _Commissioner Harley._

"This doesn't seem too hard for you to handle, why do you want to have me tag along?" Mirajane giggled, watching the Redhead shuffle a little. "But I am more than happy to come along if you believe it necessary."

The Redhead smiled, albeit small.

"We will be leaving in two days. I hope you'll be ready in that time." She quietly challenged. A shadow of what seemed to be a competitive gleam in her eyes. "I'd be disappointed otherwise."

It was out of nowhere, completely and utterly, uncompromisingly surprising. But it wasn't unwelcome, maybe it would do her some good, to give herself some time to hone her magical skills and do something other sit behind that bar for long periods on end.

And the chance to experience something positive after the awful time she had been going through was simply too much to ignore.

Yes, maybe this would be good for her, but maybe also for Erza herself. From the looks of it, this could be something she needs just as much. She was grateful…

Yes… very grateful…

::-()-::

Finally!

Okay, explanation time. I have been busy making videos for my college studies and my Units. That and my time has been spent helping one of my friends go over her stories here on this site. So that combined with stress and some planned events have made it either difficult or exhausting to sit down and write.

Now, I can say now, that I am still doing these videos, in fact I have to help my class come up with two separate video plans and then shoot them to a professional standard.. XD So sparse updates will be the norm until the holiday's. Hopefully I can update a tad quicker then.

So don't worry, I am not dead. Not yet at least. XD

Anyway, i'll see you next time and sorry for the long wait.

Viperhat


	9. Reconciliation: Final

You've heard of Snakes in a Plane. Now get ready for: Wasp in a car!

Also, we are moving away from Natsu for a time. I want to give people a break from him, it is getting tedious to write him and I want to try something out in the later stages of this story for which, this little Natsu hiatus will need to occur.

::-()-::

The cottage was just as nice as he remembered it.

The exterior showing off its striking yet welcoming red brick coat and the roof was still supported by the precisely placed pillars of dark, rich oak and the river behind the house itself looked just as calm and gentle as it ever had.

It wasn't the best river though… But a very close second…

"I kept it clean and tidy..." Flare spoke up, lingering close to the Ice Mage, acting like he would shatter if she were to leave his side for more than a few seconds. Gray weakly chuckled.

"I would hope so." He teased, eyes drooping ever so slightly as they neared the building. "I wasn't saving up all that time just so you could smash the place up."

Flare choked, not expecting the humorous retort. "I-I suppose not."

Gray saw her look away from him, if only for the slightest of seconds. It was like she was trying to think of something to say, but the words kept on getting tangled in her throat before she could make the thought vocal. He knew the Hair Mage to be shy and defensive, but rarely was she unable to speak her mind.

He had missed out on a lot…

A few trips and stumbles later, the two finally halted by the entrance, Gray looked relieved to see the gateway to rest-vile and thought about the amount of sleep he could gain from the venture within. Of course, after a nice shower and a tour by his partner…

' _Partner...'_ His mind echoed the thought and made it ring. His forehead creased inwards. Were they still partners? Had Flare found someone who was actually useful to her? Was he even needed anymore? All were valid questions, originally, she became his 'apprentice' so she could learn the ropes and improve herself in many aspects. She had seven years to take on a new strength, a new outlook, personality even. Was he even needed or wanted in such areas of her life anymore?

"Give me a second, Gray." He heard her giggle slightly, why did his head hurt now?

Shaking his head lightly (as not to make the ache worse), he finally saw what the cause was…

"Fucking door!"

"Yes, Gray. It's a door." Flare responded, giggling a little more. "We still have those in the world. They haven't gone out of fashion yet."

"Fucking balance!"

Flare started giggling louder. "You're tired, it's not like you could hel-"

"Fucking gravity!"

She couldn't handle it anymore, the ridiculous reaction from her friend was something that was worth the seven year wait. She finally burst out in laughter.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Flare, laugh it up!"

And she did…

::-()-::

Why?

Why of all people, did he have to be the one that suffered?

Sure, he was arrogant and stubborn back in his adolescent years, but so was Gray, what was so different between the two? Hell, he was the better student, the better learner and the better mage. He had earned some respite, surely.

So why wasn't he getting just that?

It had been a while since he and the others had come back from their successful search party, locating all of the Fairy Tail Mage's (even the assholes) and shipping them back to Magnolia. He was glad for them, despite his own hate towards some key members, Wendy was healthy and well like her exceed.

But despite what multiple members told him, Gray wasn't spotted at all. He never said anything about it to the other members because to things:

1: He didn't know if Gray was on another ship.

2: He hated most of the bastards on his ship!

It wasn't until he had talked with all the captains did he give up his hopeful search for his brother and ultimately decide to waste away until he felt better. He had only got Gray back, then after he caught wind of the treachery he suffered at the hands of those who were supposed to be his family only served to majorly piss him off.

But this…

He didn't know how to react to this…

He didn't even have the time to come up with a response…

So there he sat, on the edge of his bed, the sheets, unkempt and pillows collapsed. Hands holding his head whilst the rest of his body folded over itself, trying to get his thoughts together and gain some type of control over the raging typhoon that was his emotional being.

He could barely see anything in his almost pitch black room. Only thing visible was his hand that was a few inches in front of his face after he pulled it away from him. Barely recognizable under the intense blanket of blackness.

He knew Gray was strong, on the strongest team from what he remembered, but if he was so strong, then he'd have shown up by now. No, it was clear that he was dead, no amount of wishing was going to change that in the slightest…

So he was all alone now…

The last of Ur's legacy…

::-()-::

(2 days later)

"Hey, Gray!"

"Hang on..."

"Okay! But I really want to talk to you about this!" Flare's hand shot into the room, showing off a job from Raven Tail's mission request board. Oh dear…

"Yeah, yeah, give me a sec!" He grunted, annoyance starting to seep into his body as he struggled uselessly with the laces of his boot. He hated this part of his life, it gave him a great and unique appreciation for the human body and his life before the limb loss. The simplicity of tying ones laces was not something he ever thought he'd appreciate the straightforwardness of, but here he was…

"Oh, fuck it!" He growled, eventually yanking the boot off of his sock clad foot and lobbing it on the ground next to him. Frustrated. "Guess I'm going bloody barefoot."

Getting up slowly, feeling the ache in his legs leave him instantly, Gray strode awkwardly to the door and pulled it too, he still wasn't used to walking with an off centre weight. He looked around, spotting Flare sitting on the couch nearest to him… reading a book?

He thought after the incident in the hotel that she'd never touch literature again…

"Okay, you said something about a job yes?" He started. Flare smiled, turning around to face him.

"Yeah, all we have to do is catch some small time crook in Tripdon. Remember that place?" At his nod, she continued. "Not a bad reward either, 3.000 Jewels for one bad guy. They must either be desperate or feeling generous wouldn't you say?"

It did seem rather generous, especially for one crook. Usually, such jobs were awarded with a couple hundred or one thousand jewel. 3.000 was unusually high, this guy was either good or was just elusive enough to fool the home-guard forces Tripdon had installed after his visit all those years ago…

"I'm afraid that I won't be much use to you, Flare." He muttered, Flare's head shot up.

"What?"

"I said-"

"Yes, I know what you said. But why?"

Did flare really just interrupt him? Huh, she really had grown up.

"Look at me Flare." He spoke, a hint of his own depression unintentionally seeping through into his voice. "I can barely balance myself right now. I may have lots of power and skill, but I need 'two' hands for my magic to work. I am still getting over being asleep in some time protective bubble or whatever it was, after being hit by the most powerful thing I have ever encountered."

"Look, I don't want to be the one to say that I am useless, but… I-i am..."

He finished off his speech, looking back at the damn stump he had, the stump that used to be a full flesh and blood arm. No, whatever potential Ivan had seen in him was most likely gone now.

"Y-You can still train to overcome it! Surely!" Flare glared at him. Gray only sighed in return.

"Hardly, I'd need to remember my arms look. I don't pay attention to my body in general." He turned around, slowly trudging back to his room when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. Surprised, he turned around and looked down to see what had gotten Flare so upset.

"Hmm?"

"You really are bloody stupid." She whispered. "I said that I'll help you, so just accept my damn help."

"Flar-"

"No!" She exclaimed, tightening her grip around him, causing him to wince. "The last time you requested to do something alone ended with you gone for seven years, Gray!" Gray could feel a moisture grow on his back, and he knew that his defence would break any moment now.

"So please, just let me help you this once. Just let me help you get back up and on your feet again. You can overcome this injury, you're the greatest maker mage in the world and a Devil Slayer! Just let me help you through it!"

Yup, his defences had been utterly broken…

He sighed. "Fine, but not now, get that mission done first and then we'll talk about this." His offer was a fair one. He still felt weak, but by the time she got back, he'd probably be in better shape for the task ahead.

And finally, with one last caring squeeze, Flare let him go, watching him as he turned around and gave her a small smile in thanks before turning back and walking into his room…

She sighed… He was probably trying to put that fucking boot on again.

A consecutive bump, thud and frustrated shout confirmed her beliefs…

"See you in a few days, Gray!" She laughed as she walked out, ignoring the curse he sent back her way as the door closed behind her.

Yes, life was finally becoming something worth living…

And she didn't even have to give anything up…

::-()-::

So i've been sick. XD So all I have had to do in the time I have been off is write… I hope this sick induced crap is worth your time. Because I am too sick-drunk to tell.

Praise, criticism, I love it all as long as it's constructive. XD

Thanks for reading,

-Viperhat


	10. Preparation: Part 1

I've taken a break. I hope I can be a little more consistent now. XD Doubt it, but whatever, ammirite?

I have taken a little bit of time to catch up to where I was, and I know where I am heading again. So let's just start fucking writing/reading, shall we?

I don't remember if I mention this before, but there will be a few changes (Big & Small) that will be seen throughout the story. They will come in all types, time differences to plot devices. Just thought i'd get that out there, just in case I never said it before hand..

New arc: Preparation

::-()-::

(1 day later)

"I take it you have everything you'll need? Because you may not remember, but S-Class Jobs usually take up to a month, if not a handful."

Mirajane Nodded, motioning down to the suitcase behind her. When Erza raised a brow in confusion she spoke. "There's more in their than you might think. I don't need to lug armour with me wherever I go, remember?"

The comment made the Redhead scowl, if not just slightly…

"You make a good point. Anyway, the trains almost here, keep a lookout."

Mira gave her a short nod in return. This hasn't been the best start to the job.

::-()-::

He needed to clear his head. He wanted some space. Anything that would give him some tiny iota of clarity for him to work with. Even if all he got was some time spent alone in a damn prison cell with no lighting, he'd be fine with that.

The confines of his house weren't very helpful in his goal. Not because of happy, but because it was something familiar and unchanging. His useful possessions strewn about on the floor and even some on the walls reminded him of what he used to have and what he had done before. One bitterly melancholic library of treasured memories and the other unpleasant-at-best recollections of ilk that made him sick to think about.

Had he actually acted like some spoilt kid? Had he actually said those things to Lucy before they all went to Tenrou? Had he actually Ignored everyone's feelings on his opinion at the time?

Had he actually treated Gray like he was some reincarnation of Zeref himself?

The thought struck some kind of cord within him, making him cringe hard. What had he become? The memories flooded back into his head like some mental dam had violently burst and now nothing could stop the resulting overflow.

He felt his entire body seize up and after a few painfully long seconds, he turned to look at the red insignia on his shoulder, the design had become his life. It meant everything to him, without this brand, he was nothing. Although, after everything he had done in the past year (skipping the incident on Tenroujima) he might as well not be part of the brand.

But it also meant the same thing for Gray too…

It meant a lot, if not everything to everyone. Lucy, Erza, Mirajane, Gajeel, Happy…

And… Gray…

The tears finally came, in the darkness of his messy dumpster fire of a room, Natsu finally let go of all that he had become…

::-()-::

Gray was bored…

He hated to admit it to himself, but he was completely and utterly bored.

He had trouble flicking through the pages of his book, the pages either kept sticking to the pages below or the cover would slap itself back into its closed position. It was frustrating, but he was able to find an awkward way of getting past it, although his little finger was getting tired.

He was acutely aware of his missing limb. It was not something that one could forget. Although he had only been disabled for a few days, he was already tired of it. He just couldn't do things he was able to do before and that was what truly grated on his nerves. He had quite liked the abilities he was capable of before being maimed, like _flipping through books_!

"Screw it..." He growled, lifting his arm up before violently launching the book at the opposite wall, wincing at the sudden loud smack it made connecting with it. Luckily, he had managed to not leave any kind of mark, but the book probably had a few crumpled pages. If it didn't, then it at least had a mark on the outside.

Regret swelled up within him, this was, for all intents and purposes, Flare's home and it had been for seven years. He had no right to smash anything, especially due to her hospitality. But he couldn't do much any more, even the most normal, everyday actions were made ten times harder than they were before.

He remembered yesterday, when he tried to help her cook.

::-()-::

" _Hang on, what's this thing?"_

" _It's a sieve, Gray."_

" _It's metal!"_

" _That's the weird thing? Not the magic?"_

" _Wait, there's magic in this thing- AAH!"_

" _That should answer your question."_

 _He had almost dropped the damn thing when it had started vibrating viciously. Obviously to make the job it was made for easier. But what was the point in that? Everyone was capable of shaking. Hell, put them in the cold for long enough then they practically mastered the motion. Even he could still shake his arm._

" _I already hate this thing." He grumbled. Only to glare in Flare's direction when she chuckled slightly._

" _So did I, you'll get used to it." She replied, smirking a little at his sour expression. "Now, make yourself useful and start pouring the flour into that thing, let it shake and then take it away after 10 seconds. That will be perfect."_

 _He was still getting used to the attitude that she was equipped with now. Last time he saw her before his seven year nap, she had almost no confidence around him. It was actually kind of nice, he missed her and missed the time that passed in between. But he was happy to see her more confident in herself now. It seemed that most of what Ivan had did to her since he was gone had propelled her into competency._

 _He hadn't got much out of her about his actions, but he could tell that he wasn't nice to her. That was enough for him to dislike the guy._

" _Attitude, Flare."_

" _S-Sorry, Gray."_

 _He grinned. It seemed he was still influential with her._

 _Gray slowly took opened the bag of flour, letting Flare do her part. But when he grabbed the bag and tried to lift it, he was met with a surprising resistance. He had forgotten about his situation and suddenly, the bag tipped and the counter was quickly turned white with the flour pouring straight out of the bag._

" _Shit!"_

" _Gray! What happened?"_

" _Exactly what it looks like."_

 _Flare rushed over to him, ushering out of the kitchen and back onto the couch in the living room._

" _Sorry Gray, I shouldn't have given you the task of lifting that bag, it's heavy enough with two arms."_

" _I'm fin-" He was interrupted._

" _I should've taken your condition into consideration!" She lamented, going on as if he'd never spoken._

" _Flare, i'm fi-"_

" _I'm so so sorry, Gray!"_

" _FLARE!"_

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

 _Silence ensued, though Flare had stopped talking so he had achieved his purpose in that regard…_

" _I'm fine." He said slowly. "I am not hurt, I am fine. Calm down."_

 _His words seemed to have an effect, Flare's widened eyes slowly going to normal and her tense body slowly starting to relax…_

 _He should've known that she wasn't completely okay…_

" _I'll let you get on with the cooking… Sorry for that problems..."_

 _::-()-::_

God, he hated himself…

He used to be able to do everything on his own, fully independent and competent in his own skills. He had his magic that he was noted for, being called one the most skilled and quickest Maker Mage's out their as well as the wielder of Ice-Make, one of the rarest forms of Maker-Magic. One hell of a title to hold for his age.

Now what was he?

Maimed, damaged, broken and utterly unable to perform magic or even independently take care of himself… It was the ultimately insult to his life.

Though he had gained almost all of his strength back due to Flare's nursing. He was still going to struggle, if not never be able to use his beloved magic ever again… If now, he could feel it, writhing and pleading with him to be used, given purpose.

And he simply couldn't.

And that, in itself, was unbearable…

::-()-::

One of my shortest chapters, and one of my longest brakes. One that I forgot to tell you all about, so my apologies for that.

I am no longer going to say that I will get chapters out regularly, because I clearly haven't been able to do that for the past 2 years. But again, I still hold myself to completing my stories when I start them, I hate unfinished jobs. XD

So this chapter was really just the beginning of a new arc, this is a big mini-arc, one I hope to do for at least 5 chapters. Hopefully it isn't a mess. This chapter certainly feels just like that.

Thanks for reading,

-Viperhat


	11. Preparation: Part 2

I am thinking of intermixing Toi and this right now. Because I am really behind on this and my stress has never been higher. Consistent writing is difficult at the best of times these days… I do apologise for this still, hopefully you bare with me…

So here's how the stories go now:

One Arc and mini-arc of TRE S2 -

Four/Five chapters of side-story/one-shots -

One Arc and Mini-Arc of TOI -

Repeat.

Anyway,

Let's Read, shall we? (Well, you, but you get what I mean.)

::-()-::

Mira hadn't been expecting much when she had hopped off the train with Erza. She had heard of Bracksteds architectural artisan-ship, many of the worlds wonders had in fact been constructed by those within the humble city. But despite all of that praise and hear-say, she didn't expect much from the city itself, how could a city that had built around the world have anyone left for their own desires?

But even before she and Erza had come close to the city, just the sheer size and majestic aura that emanated off of the proud town seemed to expand beyond its high walls and sky-piercing towers of all shapes and sizes. As far as the eye could see, bridges connected to many of the huge skyscrapers and one could just about make out the life that was to be found within the magnificent land. The lights were almost blindly bright as she gazed upon the grand heavenly city in all of its glory…

Everything looked expensive, even the clothing. As she and Erza stepped off the train, she instantly felt like a pauper when walking among the men and women. Her maroon dress and Erza's armour stood out like a sore thumb compared to the suave and sophisticated suits and dresses that surrounded them. Though if Erza had noticed, she certainly didn't make it visible on her face.

"Remind me to come here if I need humbling, Erza."

Erza didn't react to her comment, in fact, it seemed like she wasn't really paying attention to anything as she almost barged into a tall, lanky gentleman, who gave the redhead a baleful look before moving on with his day.

Mirajane winced… What was going on with Erza?

After a few minutes of seemingly aimless walking, the two mages found themselves on a massive stretch of the highly detailed walkway. It was around now that Mira had started doubting her friends navigational skills, even though the woman had done more S-Class Jobs than most, she certainly didn't give off the comforting knowledge of her competency.

"Do you know where the Mayor's building is?" She asked, hoping to urge her friend to respond, luckily, she got her response.

"We're almost there, we take a right once we make it to the end of this stretch and it will be the third building on the left." Erza turned to look at her for a second, though when Mira nodded in response to her statement she had instantly turned her head back, focusing on the path ahead.

"What do you think is going to be in the forest?" Mira asked, a curious expression making its appearance as she thought about their job. "I mean, from what i've heard, there are many creatures In them forests, in fact they say that there may even be a Delphini. Hopefully not, though. Imagine the trouble we'd have fighting it."

Erza sighed. "I have no idea, but we both know the parameters of the job, we know our objective lies within the forest and that the forest may have creatures that require physical force to overcome. We should ask when we make it to the office." Though, if Erza were to be honest with herself, it wasn't much of a problem, nor was it worth the time to check.

Delphini's were known to be viscous creatures, standing at ten feet on average and sported four large arms on its back, armed with large, serrated claws and razor sharp teeth that dripped with a horrid neurotoxin that gave the sufferer the most violent hallucinations. The beasts skin was thick and rough, causing many to bleed if they were to rub their hands across it.

It was said to be the rare, yet dominant creature in the forest. Surely a challenge for any mage, strong or weak...

"I suppose you're right..."

Five minutes later and Erza put her arm out, stopping Mirajane in her tracks. Then quickly, she turned and started walking towards the smallest building, with an overhanging sign that read: 'Mayoral Office'…

Looked like the kind of place a Mayor would be… In her professional opinion.

"Let's go in." Erza commanded, not waiting for her partner to catch up as she purposefully bee-lined for the receptionist, who quickly stood to attention.

"We're here for the mayor's contract." Erza pronounced, her voice demanding the receptionists full attention.

"You're here to retrieve the book from Faery Forests?" She asked, surprised before snorting. "Good luck, those forests are deadly to even those who have been fully trained in dealing with issues in that godforsaken place."

"Eitherway, can you get us an audience with the Mayor?"

The receptionist flicked back her blonde hair before nodding. "Hang on one second." She ordered before getting up and walking towards a door near the back of the room. She knocked, peered in slightly and curtly informed the unseen person of the both of them, likely the mayor, but it was impossible to tell.

"Okay." She responded after a few seconds of silence before turning back to look at her and Erza. "He will see you immediately. Come on through."

That was quick… Must be a big thing, this job…

Mira shuffled her way past the receptionist and held open the door for Erza, who automatically stepped through, keeping her eyes planted on whom Mira assumed to be the mayor. Though she was directly behind Erza and couldn't see the guy, she could see his hair, he was clearly eccentric with the style alone which consisted of three curls, two on the sides and one huge one on the top. The jet black hair didn't help him blend in either, his entire room was a vision-piercing gold with deep-glossy brown highlights made in the style of many of the manors around Fiore.

The guy certainly lived in some style…

But before she could comment or even think further, Erza spoke, cutting through her train of thought like a knife through butter…

"Mayor Brookmyer, I presume?"

The man nodded, smiling and offering the two a seat. An admittedly comfy seat to.

"It is my pleasure to welcome you both to Bracksted, but no, I am not Mr. Brookmyer." He tugged at his collar slightly, discomfort showing on his face. "He currently has some business outside of this matter than required immediate attention, he will not be back for a week or two, so I have been tasked to pick up the slack in his absence."

His sheepish expression was enough for Erza it seemed, who blandly nodded and pushed forward.

"Very well, I assume you are updated on the Feary Forest job we have come for?"

"Yes." He slipped Erza a file. "That is everything we have on the mission at hand, the current whereabouts based on sightings and predictive magicks, viable to rare threats and potential hazards within the forests themselves as well as a map that gives you the route we so far have for the forest itself."

"You mat want to take a few potions just incase you end up stung by the Venus Leviathan Plant, those things have the strength to cause such pain that those afflicted beg for death before it passes through. You may also want to read up on the Delphini beasts, they may be rare, but they do exist out there and they would be your greatest threat within the forest."

Mirajane shuddered… "Lovely, and her ei was hoping they would be myths."

The man smiled, though the humour was vacant. "Oh, they are more than myths i'm afraid. I remember a young lad coming here for a job that involved the forests before. He had the knowledge and skill to complete the job, but one of those creatures got him in the leg, quite frankly, he was lucky to not have it either severed off."

A sudden bout of curiosity filled Mirajane and the question was out before she could stop herself.

"Who was he?"

The man's forehead creased. "He looked a like your age, though this was eight years ago. He used Ice-Make and that's all I know. He never gave me a name, but he had the Fairy Tail Insignia on his chest. You likely know him..."

Erza visibly paled.

"That sounds an awful lot like Gray..."

Mirajane only nodded, not trusting her voice to speak for her.

"Well, whoever he was, he made it out alive and didn't lose anything." He stood up from his chair, motioning them both to the door. "I'd love to stay and chat with you two lovely ladies but unfortunately I have some more matters to attend to. Can't allow Bracksted to fall behind, can I?" He chuckled before dismissing the two wary mages. "Just before I forget, when you get back, let the receptionist know that Mr. Krain wants to speak to you after, just to confirm that you have completed the mission."

Soon enough, they both found themselves standing outside of the building, trying to catch up with all the events that had taken place.

"So… We prepared some potions for the trip, right?"

Erza nodded her head in confirmation. "Y-Yes… We have those and I believe I took the map from the tourist stand before we came here." She pulled out the other map in the file and handed it to Mirajane. "You take this one and that way we both have one, if we ever end up being split up, we both have little chance of getting lost."

"Right." She agreed, flicking some head behind her shoulder.

They both allowed Gray's time here to pass by, there wasn't any time to mourn or reflect or even investigate. Now they both had a job, for once not as rivals, but as partners. They had both taken a challenge to move on, it was hard, but not impossible.

And Mirajane, despite never losing any of her passion for the man she had known, would make sure she reminded Erza of the reason of this mission...

::-()-::

It may be boring, but it starts there journey and hopefully I can get to the exciting stuff soon.

Sorry about this being late. I have had my brain numbed writing this particular chapter. Bureaucratic nonsense isn't my strength. But soon enough, we'll be moving on from there.

But next update of a main story will likely be TOI and continue to be so for a little bit now.

-Viperhat


End file.
